Jade Chan Adventures
by Sub Ink
Summary: Jade Chan is a young woman who is a skilled fighter. As an Agent of Section 13 and with her ties to the world of magic, her life is far from normal. These are her adventures.
1. The Mask of El Gecko

**Chapter 1 Abstract** (Skip this section of the chapter)

Jade Chan is a young woman who is a skilled fighter. As an Agent of Section 13 and with her ties to the world of magic, her life is far from normal. These are her adventures.

Jade Chan is given a chance to prove herself ready to be a full agent of Section 13. She has to complete a mission to stop an evil villain and help a fellow agent with the help of an old friend who has lost his way. Will she be able to succeed in all her endeavors?

* * *

 **The Mask of El Gecko**

The sliding doors to the secure room opened so that I could enter. The room had a black couch that offset the white walls. There was a silver flat screen TV on the wall. I saw myself in the reflection of the TV's screen. A few strands of my hair had fallen directly on my face. I pushed the strands to the side where they belonged. I preferred to keep my hair tied up in a ponytail at all times, that way it did not get in the way. As I straighten my hair a thought or to be more accurate a question popped into my head: was I being vain? My reflection was suddenly replaced by the face of a bald white man. I was so surprised to see the reflection of my face change so drastically that I fell back on the couch. I did not want to look like an old bald white man and at that moment I did not care if that made me vain.

"Hello, Jade." The man on the screen said to me as I stared at the screen.

I realised that my reflection had not changed but the TV had simply turned on which made me feel silly. I had known the man on the screen since I was a young girl. I am now 21 years old and am probationary agent of Section 13. "Hello Captain Black. Awe, this time I was actually hoping to see you in person."

"Maybe next time." Black said. "Now, let's get on with why I called you here. I have a mission for you."

I raised an eyebrow and looked around expecting to see someone join us, since I was still a probationary agent of Section 13 that meant that I never went on any missions alone. I always had a partner to supervise me and I doubted that would change anytime soon because one had to be a probationary agent for three years before they fully become an agent and I had two more years to go. "Your sending me on a solo mission? But I'm still a Probie."

"The probation rule is enforced only so that we can scope out if a candidate has the potential to be an agent but I've know you for a long time now. I know what you're capable of. All that's left is for you to prove it." said Captain Black.

He was right! I had what it took to be a top notch agent. I got up and raised my right hand in the air, "I promise you Captain. I won't let you down!" I ran out of the room ready to start the mission until I realised that I was missing one crucial component of the mission. I didn't know what the mission was! I walked back into the room feeling very embarrassed. "Uhm… sorry, I got a little too excited."

Captain Black sighed. "Now your mission: Section 13 has been monitoring the disappearance of the world's top fighters, world champions and masters of various martial arts." As he spoke his image on the screen shrank into a small square in the corner of the screen while the rest of the screen showed the world with various points where the fighters in question went missing. "We sent Agent Charles Brand to investigate…"

"Charles." I involuntarily said out loud. Charles was an agent that I usually got partnered up with during this probationary year. He was a smart, handsome and womanizing man with impeccable taste in suits. I had never seen him without a fine suite on, well except for that night…

"Yes Agent Brand." Captain Black said cutting through my train of thought. A picture of Charles Brand appeared superimposed on the globe. "Agent Brand discovered this man at all the places that the fighters mysteriously disappeared…" as he said this a picture of a man replaced the images of the marked globe and Charles. The man in question had a hard unsmiling face that was only made more sullen looking by his slowly greying hair. Jade guessed that he must have been in his early fifties. "His name is Bjorn August. He is originally from Sweden and is a former Mixed Martial Arts and kickboxing champion. Agent Brand had followed him to Mexico but then we lost all contact with him." Black finished off.

I did not want to admit it but I was worried. Charles was a good agent, one of the best and if he could not complete this mission what were my chances at success? "So you need me stop this August-guy and retrieve Agent Brand; if he's still alive?"

"Yes." He confirmed.

"Well that's good. I've always wanted to go back to Mexico and see an old friend."

/

The taxi dropped me in front of a dodgy looking place. I was looking for an old friend named Paco. The last time I saw him we were still kids, ever since then he had become a lucha wrestler called The Mighty Gecko. I had actually watched a few of his matches when I had the time which was a long time ago. However, when I went to the Lucha Wrestling Federation they told me to come here. The _here_ was club called the Dirty Sponge. I walked in past the big muscle guards who gave me intimidating looks. As soon as I got in the Dirty Gecko I found that it was full, noisy and, as the name suggested, dirty.

I dodged waitresses selling drinks and various drunken men who were staring at me intently. It was not just men who were staring at me; it was everyone who had chanced to see me. I stuck out like a sore thumb in Mexico let alone in a place like this. When I saw a crowd of men around a big cage I began to suspect why Paco would be here. In the cage were two shirtless men savagely fighting. I could not believe that Paco would participate in such things. I went to an old man who was seemingly collecting bets from different individuals.

"Excuse me," I said to get his attention. "I'm looking for one of the fighters; his name is Paco, The Mighty Gecko."

"The Mighty Gecko?" The man said laughing. "I haven't heard anyone call him that in a long time. Nowadays people just call him 'the town drunk'." He said pointing at the bar.

I went to the bar and saw the back of a man slouched over on a bar stool. I approached him and tapped him on the shoulder. "Paco?"

Paco swivelled around to face me and he smiled, out of courtesy I smiled back, although I could see by his slightly closed eyes that he was drunk. "Hello gorgeous."

"Paco, do you remember me?" I don't know why I asked because in his state he would find it difficult to remember his own name.

"Hmm." He said reaching out for a beer and then taking a sip. "Where have I met a beautiful Japanese woman before?"

"I'm Chinese. I'm Jade Chan, remember?" I said trying to jog his memory.

"Ah, Yade Chan! Now I remember. Wow, you've grown to be…"

"Hey, amigo! You took my beer." A man said in Spanish. The man was bigger than Paco as he was fat and he had a friend who was both tall and fat making him look formidable.

Paco swivelled 90 degrees to look at the man in the next bar stool. "This isn't yours, friend. If it was I would not be able to do this…" Paco said before he took a big gulp of the bottles contents.

The man and his friend got up and looked ready for a fight but Paco remained sitting and smiled dumbly at the men. The man who had felt offended threw the first punch but before it could reach Paco, I shot my arm out and pushed his punch of target, making him miss Paco's face by inches. I held on to his forearm so that the man could try again.

"I am sorry for what my friend did." I said in my shaky Spanish. "I will buy you and your friend a drink." I said letting go of the man's forearm and taking out money.

"Hey Yade, I don't…" Paco lurched and regained his composure. "I don't need you to fight my…" His bodily functions finally got the better of him and he threw up on the flooR.

My boots and jeans were not spared from the disgusting assault as some of Paco's lunch and formerly consumed drink landed on them. "Ugh, Paco!"

"That is It, Paco!" The barman said. "Whenever you come you make trouble or a mess. I'm tired of it, get out!"

The barman called in some bouncers to unceremoniously throw Paco out of the Dirty Sponge. I did not mind following him outside as I did not like the place. I looked at Paco who was still lying on the dusty ground. I sighed, how did he become like this?

"Let's get you out of here." I said under my breath.

/

This was ridiculous! Paco had slept for 12 hours. It was bad enough that I had to drag him to his apartment but now I have to wait for him to get up. I looked around his small apartment and saw a green mask with a red line running down from the mouth area. I picked it up in my hands an inspected it. This must have been his wrestling mask. I then saw two dirty pans in the sink and began to smile evilly. I had always wanted to do what I was thinking of ever since I've seen it in movies. I took the dirty pans and banged them together over Paco's head. He woke up with a start and grabbed one of the pans and threw it behind his head.

"Rise and shine!" I said.

Paco rubbed away the last signs of sleep from his eyes. "Yade? I thought you were a dream." He said smiling.

"Well, I'm not." Jade said.

Paco reached under his bed and produced a quarter empty bottle of vodka.

"Come on Paco. You've just woken up." I complained.

"Exactly why I need this more." He said taking a sip.

"What happened to you? How did you go from Mighty Gecko to… this?" I scolded him which felt strange because usually I'm the one who's being scolded.

"I lost my championship."

"Is that all?"

"Among other things, yes." He said taking before trying to take another swig.

I placed my hand on the bottle and forced it down away from his mouth. I was failing to get through to him. Maybe he needed to be reminded of his dead mentor, maybe he could rouse him out of whatever he was going through. "What would El Toro say if he saw you like this?"

"I guess it's a good thing that his not here to see me like _this_." He said. "What do you want Yade? I know you didn't drop by to say hello; I don't have friends who do that."

Jade sighed. "I need your help. I'm looking for this man…" I said taking out my iPad and showed him a picture of Bjorn August. "Do you know him?"

Paco squinted at the screen while scratching his hairy armpits and then smelling his fingers before making a face of disgust. "He looks familiar but not because I've actually seen him around or anything. I probably saw him on TV or something. He's a bit old to be your boyfriend though, isn't he?"

"He's not…" I began but stopped; I could not give him the satisfaction of getting to me. "What about him…" I said showing him a picture of Charles.

"Nope."

I sat thinking while Paco got up to fix himself something to eat. I had no leads and no way of tracking my targets down. Another fighter would probably go missing soon. Of course, August was probably here to kidnap the greatest fighter in Mexico. Even with that information I would still need a guide to help me find the best fighter and traverse through Mexico because I did not even know how to speak the language well. And I knew the perfect candidate. Maybe I could even straighten out Paco's act during the adventure.

"Paco, I'll need a guide if I'm going to find these people." I said. "I'll pay you."

Paco smiled at her, "okay."

"But I have a condition, no drinking allowed during the trip."

Paco thought about this for a moment. From the look of his apartment, he really did need the money so I doubted that he would say no.

He smiled and took another sip of vodka, "fine."

/

They had moved into another city in their pursuit for a great fighter in Mexico. Paco had led them to some dodgy places in their pursuit for information. In one of these places he was having a conversation with a little boy. The boy seemed very excited by what he was saying and Paco brushed his hair when they were done talking. I was only able to catch bits and pieces of the conversation because of my still bad Spanish.

Paco and I then walked around the city. He had not said a word as he was leading me to a destination only he knew. I struggled to keep up with him in the crowded city. He was slowly getting on my nerves as I began to realise that he was trying to control this situation but this was my mission and I was in charge. I caught up and grabbed him by the shoulder and brought him to a stop in the middle of the busy street. People bumped into us and some swore and Paco wasted no time in swearing back. In time the flow of walking people went around us.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"To a great fighter. The boy I was talking to described a fighter who beat up the best cage fighters he had ever seen with one hand. The boy says that the fighter in question likes watching lucha wrestling." He said before continuing to walk.

"Wait. I say if we pursue this fighter or not!" I said stopping him again. "And anyways what kind of people believes the story a boy."

"We were once that boy's age. Remember when we would role with the J-Team and the 'grownups' ignored us when we were trying to help? I doubt he was lying, he was too excited."

I thought about it for a second. I guess it would not hurt to check this lead out. "Fine tell me where we're going then stay right behind me! I'm leading this."

"Yes ma'am." He said saluting.

I stopped a taxi and ordered the driver to take us to where we needed to go. We stopped in front of a big building. On the sides of the entrance were giant posters showing luchadoras. When Paco stepped out of the taxi he looked at the building. I could see that he had a great longing in his eyes.

"You okay?" I asked him.

"Let's just get done with this so I can get paid." He said leading us to the building entrance.

There were four big, muscled men guarding the entrance. As soon as they saw Paco and I approaching they tensed up. I could tell when people were getting ready for action, either to fight or run. It seems that for most of my life that is what I had been doing.

Paco opened up his arms in a friendly gesture and said something like, "Rockos, Petro, Sam and Tony, it's good to see you, my friends."

One of the men spat at Paco's pants. "I get the feeling that you and these guys aren't on good terms." I said concerned.

"What!" He said feigning surprise. "These are my friends. That's how we greet each other."

They continued to exchange words but it did not take a fluent speaker in Spanish to tell that the four big men did not like Paco. He seemed to be trying to charm his way in but they were not having it. While they were talking one of the men threw a punch aimed at him. I had seen the punch coming from a mile away, it was so obvious I thought Paco would have no problem blocking or dodging it but instead he just took it. I saw his face shake from the blow before he fell to his knees. Why did he let them hit him? He was a fighter so he could have handled such an obvious attack. At seeing him being hit my blood began to boil, not only at the men but at Paco's weakness. It confused me.

I began to move forward with a plan to tear these guys apart but Paco raised his hand to stop me. "Don't, I'll handle this." He said.

I stepped back. I expected… hoped that he would teach these guys a lesson, violently. However, I was disappointed when he let another guy punch him in the stomach. He moaned as he fell to his knees again. He still raised his hands and told me not to get involved. I clenched my fists; I felt like I would explode with anger or kill these guys. Paco got up and spoke a few more words but this time he pointed at me. The big guys spoke amongst themselves before finally relenting and letting us in.

We walked through a long empty hallway that led to the building. "What was that!" I asked.

"Nothing, I handled it."

"That is not handling it! I this close to beating those guys up!"

He stopped and turned to face me. "I don't need your help Yade Chan!"

"You could have fooled me! I don't know what is wrong with you but I'm still here trying to help but you don't want any because you're caught up in this 'I'm-pathetic' act of yours."

He resumed walking through the hall. "And that is your problem. You think I'm your pet project that you have to fix but I don't need fixing!"

"Trust me you do need fixing!" I said joining him.

We were both angry when we entered the main staduim. The place was packed. We were in the audience stands and in the middle of the giant hall was a ring where two men fought it out lucha-style. It was exciting and unlike the Dirty Sponge it had a better ambience. I noticed that Paco had a look of wonder and longing on his face as he looked on. That look reminded me of when we were younger and those memories helped to quell my anger.

"You miss this don't you?" I said.

The look disappeared instantly. "Your great fighter usually sits in one of the reserved seats." He said pointing at a pod situated above the normal seats.

I looked around the place and saw that there were two other similar pods in the stadium. "We'll split up and investigate all the reserved seats. You go left I'll go right and if we both find nothing we'll meet at the third pod. If you do find the fighter, warn him, tell him he's in danger, then lead him to me so I can protect him."

Paco nodded before he left and I did the same. My first pod had nothing, just a bunch of old men in suits. As I made my way to the third pod I brought some nachos that were drowned in dipping sauce. I ate my snack as I made it to the third pod. I got high enough in the arena to see the occupants of the pod and was so surprised by who I saw that I dropped my nachos. It was August! He must have been the great fighter the boy Paco was talking to was talking about. I did not know whether I should apprehend him now or wait. No, I had this opportunity and I had to take it. When I made a move to get him everyone excitedly got up and blocked my sight. It seemed that someone had won the match that was going on. I tried to get a look at him and saw that he was leaving. I tried following him through the commotion. Someone tapped me in the back and I grabbed his arm and twisted it because I was in alert mode. It turned out to be Paco.

"I'm sorry." I apologised letting him go.

"Yeah? It seems like you've wanted to do that for a long time. Have you found the guy."

"Yes. It's not a random fighter but it's the bad guy I was looking for. He was in this pod before I lost sight of him."

"I know where the exit leads to. Come on follow me!" He said grabbing my hand.

"How do you know where we're going?" I asked as we ran through the crowd.

"I've wrestled in this place before. Remember? Former Luchadora here."

"Oh yeah!" I said resisting the urge to slap my forehead.

By the time they got out, August was already leaving in a car.

"I guess we were too slow." Paco said.

"Maybe not." I said spotting another car parking. I ran to the driver who was getting out and ordered him to give me his car keys. When he refused I took out a gun and threatened him into giving me his them which he did out of fear. Paco and I got in and chased after August.

"What was that?" Paco said looking back at the man who we had taken the car from.

"I did what I had to do for the mission. Now focus, I need you to keep an eye on the guy we're following so that we don't lose him. We followed the car to an old architect type building. I was surprised that such buildings existed in Mexico. We got in through the back so that we could better spy on my target. That was an error as we had to climb a few steps to get to where he was.

We eventually spotted him talking to two men. One had a bright red mask with a yellow cross in the middle and the other was an older man with grey hair and no mask. August had six men in black karate-like suits with purple belts. He on the other hand had on a red karate-like suit with a black belt that ended with two gold pieces on either side.

"Why is he talking to the lucha Champion?" Paco whispered to me.

I realised that the man in the mask was one of the wrestlers who were fighting in the arena we just came from. "Don't know." I said. I noticed from the corner of my eye Paco looking at me intently. I tried to ignore him and focus on what was going on in front of me but I could not. "What?" I asked in an aggressive whisper.

"You have something on you're…" He pointed on my cheek.

I wiped my left cheek and looked at my hand and saw nothing. I shrugged. He reached out with his thumb and I flinched but then let him wipe off the nacho sauce off my face. He showed it to me as proof before licking it off his finger. I thought that was weird but decided to ignore it, for now.

Suddenly there was a big commotion. I looked and saw that the masked Lucha was down and out, leaving the elder man to fight August's six henchmen. The old man was actually holding his own but I knew it would not last. I jumped out and ran for them. They were eventually able to overwhelm the man and pin him down. I withdrew my gun and ordered them to stand down. What August did next was so quick I did not have a chance to react. He stomped on the floor, raising one tile off the ground and kicked the tile to my direction. I saw the tile break but a shard shot through the air and got into my gun barrel. When I pulled the trigger the bullet, now because the gun was jammed by the piece of tile, bounced in the gun blowing it apart in my hands.

Now without a gun I took a fighting stance and approached them with Paco at my side. August did not seem fazed. "Let the man go, Bjorn August and you and your crownies get on the ground. Your under arrest." I said trying to sound as intimidating as possible. August was obviously not afraid as he remained calm and smiled at me and Paco as we approached him.

"You know my name. I'm honoured." He said.

I began splitting from Paco and went left while he went right in a pincer movement.

"I wonder who you are. Of course I know your friend, The Mighty Gecko; former Lucha Champion and lost his title last year, was it? Of course that was not the worst thing that happened to your career, if that's what you'd even call it. The following year after your title loss you were discovered to be part of a match fixing syndicate; you intentionally lost matches and won a few that you were planned to win. You and six other Luchas were banned from the Luchadora Federation for a year, a year that ended last year. But being banned for the reason you were can make it hard to make a comeback."

"You've been stalking me?" I heard Paco say. I could hear him straining to keep his anger in check; I did not even know he had been banned.

"I like Lucha wrestling, more technical and fun than American wrestling, which is just a soapie for men."

"I can show you how technical it is. Come at me!" Paco said not even trying to hide his anger anymore.

"What? Me? Fight you? You're beneath me but your friend here, maybe she can entertain me." He gave the men who were not holding down the old man a signal to attack Paco. Three men rushed to fight him. August turned his attention on me as I attacked him. I quickly found out he was a skilled fighter as he easily blocked and dodged my strikes without giving any quarter in fact he was putting pressure on me, forcing me back. "Who are you?"

I jumped back to regroup. "I am Jade Chan, Agent of Section 13."

He made a face. "Another one. I should really deal with this 'Section 13', permanently."

So he had had an encounter with Charles Brand.

I leeped forward in a fury of attacks. "Where is Charles Brand and the other missing fighters!" I screamed as I fought.

He was dealing with my attacks and it seemed he was not even struggling. "Now that would be telling." He said as he stopped using his legs to block my kicks and was soon only using one hand to fight me.

I could not believe this guy's skill. He was fighting me with one hand and still was more than holding his own against me. I realised that he was faster than me so I had to rely on strength. I began putting more weight and power in my blows which made me slower but he was still able to block my attacks. I had left a lot of openings that he was not taking advantage of. I realised that he was just showing off his superior ability. I began to wind up knowing that I would be vulnerable to serious blows but I gambled that he would not strike just to prove that he could deal with my attacks. My gamble paid off as I was able to attack with my elbow while pushing it with my other hand and leaning in with my body for a more powerful attack. He blocked my attack with one hand but I had a few more power based attacks. I did them all in quick succession and he blocked them all. When I repeated my elbow one he blocked but this time he countered with a thrusting kick to the ribs which sent me into a pillar. When my back collided with the pillar, I bounced off it and landed on the floor.

He still had his foot in the position he had used to hit me. He slowly lowered it and placed it on the ground before walking to the old man. I looked over at Paco who was struggling to fight his two henchmen. He had already taken out one of them.

"I must admit. You are a good fighter but nothing exceptional. Not unlike this man…" He said pointing to the old man who was pinned down. He took off his black belt and allowed one end of it, which was covered with gold metal, to touch the face of the old man while he held the other end also with gold metal. He said, "Soi" then I saw a light that started at the metal touching the old man travel up the black belt to the other metal in August's hand. He then put the belt back on. "This is what I do with exceptional fighters. I take their fighting ability which makes mine stronger." He said re-tying the belt around his waist. He nodded and the men holding the old man down let him go. The old man tried to attack him but his technique was sloppy not like when I had first seen him fight. August easily took him out.

So that was why he was such a powerful fighter; he had the skills of the greatest fighters on Earth in him. Paco had taken care of the second henchman and was fighting the third but I could see that his lazing around and excessive drinking was getting to him as he quickly became fatigued. To make matters worse for him the now free three henchmen rushed to help their comrade against him. I needed to beat this guy and quickly. Both speed and skill failed, now I had to resort to tricks. I took out something from my pocket that I did not want August to see and I began approaching him.

He looked amused when he saw me approach. "Come now Jade. I am sure by now you have realised you cannot win."

"Why don't you try blocking my next attack with one hand again." I challenged him.

This time I did not wind up. I just did my elbow technique and as I challenged him he blocked with one hand. But unlike all those other times, even though he did block my attack, my blow was enough to send him flying hard back into a pillar some distance away. The pillar was smashed and dust flew about. His henchmen which had pinned Paco down looked at their boss and me in surprised, Paco too. Obviously they had never seen their employee take a hit. When the dust cleared August got up with his clothes ruffled and looking very angry. A big chunk of the pillar had cracked off from his landing.

"Impossible! No one can do that to me. Not now!" He said outraged.

I turned my back on him. "That's what an arrogant weakling would say."

He got angry enough that he charged at me. I'll admit he was fast and because I had turned my back on him he almost got me but I stomped my foot hard on the floor sending out a small earth tremor that off balanced him then I delivered a kick and once again sent him flying into the same pillar. This time the pillar completely broke apart on top of him. In great anger he pushed the debris off of him.

"How!" He screamed looking at me with mad eyes.

I winked at him. "Secret technique. Now, if you and your men give up, I won't hurt you… too badly."

His men looked at him for direction. He punched the ground hard which made a small hole in it. "I want that technique!" One of his men kicked Paco unconscious then they all rushed me.

I took a fighting stance thinking that maybe I shouldn't have taunted him. The first henchman to reach me threw a round house kick which I was able to catch with one hand and threw him in a wide arc over my head with the same hand. This move left an opening and August used two fingers to strike me three times in three different places which hurt me badly. I swung wildly and missed him but caught one of his men, sending him flying. He took the opportunity to strike my arm with his two fingers. Along with the pain my arm went numb. I dodged one of his men strikes and kicked him into another, taking two out at the same time. During this August hit me in a few more places which made me fall to my knees and he and his remaining henchman kicked me in the face. I fell down as August used his technique to paralyse more of my body. I could now not defend myself and was forced to watch as he took off his belt and used it to take my fighting ability.

He said, "Soi" and my fighting ability was removed from me.

Paco got up and charged at him but August made quick work of him and he threw both of us in a small downstairs section of the building and kicked a round stone with art work on it on top of the entrance to trap us inside. We had been defeated.

/

Paco banged on the stone trying to get us out. He was angry so I thought it would be wise to let him get it out of his system. He eventually got tired and sat beside me. We were quiet for a while. The place we were trapped in was dark. We were quiet for a while then I suddenly broke the silence.

"Paco, why didn't you tell me you were banned from wrestling?" I asked in the dimly lit place. The only thing we could see clearly was our eyes and the silhouettes of our bodies.

"Because it's not my proudest moment and it's something people won't forgive me for." He said.

"Why did you do it?"

"I guess I got greedy. And I doubted my ability to regain my title. People just expected too much from me and I crumbled and I did things that I would never do again."

"We all make mistakes but that doesn't mean we should give up on our dreams." I said. "You're a great Lucha just like El Toro. The only person who doubts it seems to be you."

"Thank you." He said and I could tell he was sincere.

"Now, let's get out of here." I said getting up starting to feel some feeling return to my body but the pain was still there.

"How?" He asked.

I threw something at him that he was only barely able to catch because of the lack of light. "This is my mask." He said. "I don't see how it can help us."

"Feel its forehead area." I said.

He felt the forehead of the mask and gasped. "Is… is this a…"

"Talisman, yes. The one worn by your mentor."

"The Bull Talisman. This is how you gave August a tough time!"

"Yes. I was no match for him so I cheated. Now stop rubbing it in my face and get us out of here."

"What? You want me to use it?"

"Well, there's no ways I'd be caught dead in that mask and if you haven't been keeping up, August stole my fighting ability. So even with the talisman I couldn't beat him which logically leaves you as the best person to have it now."

The circular stone that had blocked them suddenly blew into a million pieces. Paco walked out and offered his hand to me. I made a face and, ignoring his hand, walked past him. Just because I was hurt did not mean I needed help in walking. He looked good in his green mask with a red line running in the middle of the chin area of the mask.

"So now what do we do?" he asked, his voice firmer and sounding different. I did not know if it was because he was speaking through the mask or if it was because he had regained his confidence but I liked it.

"We need to find this guy and since he's using magic, we need to use magic too. Lucky for us I know a Chi Wizard." I said picking up my phone and calling someone.

The phone rang a few times before it was picked up. "Hello?" The man who picked up said.

"Tohru, hello."

"Jade! Good to hear from you."

"Yeah, I'm sorry big guy, this isn't a social call. I need your help."

"Anything… within my power of course."

"I need you to tell me what this is. " I said sending him an impromptu drawing of the belt August wore and the symbols on the two metals at its end.

"Ah! The Soi and Ios medallions. Was someone able to get both of them? It was smart to place them on a belt it allowed for better conduction of…"

"Tohru, what do they do?"

"Oh, sorry. These two medallions are only useful together. The Soi medallion takes the fighting ability of someone and the Ois medallion stores it but in order for an ability to be taken or returned they must be used together."

"Wait, so the fighting abilities taken by the medallions can be returned? So I can get my fighting ability back."

"Yes, fighting abilities can be returned by using the stones backwards. One more thing, whoever uses the medallions to take fighting ability can only use the fighting abilities by wearing the belt."

"Can you track the belt's location?"

"Not the belt's but I can track down your fighting ability."

I raised my eyebrow. "So you can track only mine."

"Yes, I can track you or any part of you anywhere, Jade."

I knew Tohru did not mean for that statement to sound as creepy as it did but that did not help me not feel the willies. "Okay, track it… or me down."

/

It was awful. That is the only way I can describe where Tohru tracked me, or to be more accurate a part of me. Paco and I found ourselves climbing a rocky mountain and on the other side was a settlement situated on rough and black rocks. There was a house with light escaping from the windows and some distance away was a bigger settlement, although calling it a settlement was an overstatement. It was more like a fence surrounding people. There were a few of August's henchmen patrolling. For this reason I decided to climb down alone to the settlement.

I was able to get through the henchmen to the fence without being seen because of the black suit I was wearing. It was almost totally black except for the white lines running along my frame and met up at my chest and continued as a single line up to my neck. I whispered out to the people in the settlement and one of them approached me. His face was covered in dirt and wore he dirty overalls and I was not sure if his messy hair was brown with black dirt or black with brown dirt. He looked familiar but I could not figure out where I knew him from.

"Hello?" I said.

"Aah finally! The cavalry has arrived and it is led by a beautiful dragon." The man said in an English accent.

I instantly knew who the man was from his charm and accent. "It's good to see that you're still alive Agent Brand."

"Agent Brand? The last time I checked we were on a first name bases, Jade. You know since that time…"

"What's the situation? What's going on?" I interrupted him.

"Bjorn August has us digging for platinum here. Really smart, using his prisoners to make himself richer." He said pointing to a cave at the side of the mountain.

"Can these men fight?"

He looked around. "We have professional boxers, world fighting champions, monks, ninjas and an assortment of other fighters with one problem: they can't fight. August took all our fighting abilities." He said. "But I don't know why you ask. I'm sure you came with an army of Section 13 agents." I guess he noticed my face because he suddenly doubted his own statement. "You did bring back up, correct?"

"I have a Lucha wrestler." I said knowing how pathetic that sounded.

"You were never the best at planning ahead." He said shaking his head. "If you can get our abilities back then me and my fellow miners can take them all on."

"Consider it done." I said going away to find August.

I met up with Paco and we both headed for the only humane settlement at the site. We found August practicing his skill on a few dummies. He'd hit one of the dummies so hard that it broke off its post. However this only made him angry as he stomped his feet. Unbeknownst to us one of the henchmen snuck up behind Paco and me and pushed us out of our hiding place. We tumbled into plain sight.

August looked at us partly surprised. "Jade Chan and The Former Mighty Gecko. It's good that you are here. I seem to have taken your fighting ability but I'm still not capable of the feats of strength that you had shown."

Paco and I got up and I smiled at him. "You won't be capable of it because to get as good as I got you need practice. Something you would not know about considering that all you do is steal."

I saw his mood change from calm to angry. "Take care of the Gecko!" He told his henchmen. "You're going to tell me your secret Jade Chan!"

He came at me and I began to panic. There was no way I could take him on. Suddenly Paco was buried under a mountain of henchmen, leaving me to face August. He shot out his leg in a sweeping high kick and in my attempt to back step away I tripped and fell backwards on my back thus luckily dodging his attack. Suddenly the mountain of bodies on Paco all went flying in all directions. Paco rushed out and grabbed August by the waist and suplexed him into a boulder. He chased after him as he began to strike out with bull talisman powered punches. When he missed August, anything he hit broke apart under the sheer force of his strength.

"You… your using whatever Jade was using." He said before he dodged Paco's punch and grabbed Paco's arm and brought him to his knees. "Tell me! What is the secret!"

"Are you deaf? Yade said it was hard work." Paco said before punching the ground with all his might causing a minor Earthquake that brought everyone to their knees and raising a fog of dust and debris.

When the dust began to clear I saw them still going at it. At first I had hope that Paco would win but then I realised he would not. August was dodging too many attacks and hitting Paco. Don't get me wrong Paco was holding his own but it would not last. I guess Paco also realised that he would lose and began to change his strategy. When I noticed what he was doing I was impressed and jealous that I did not come up with it. After a few minutes August's henchmen began crowding us getting ready to attack me. Paco was kicked and he flew by me and landed some distance away.

I ran to him and knelt beside him. He was bruised, bloodied and out of breath. "I am sorry Yade. I could not beat him, even with this," he said pointing to the talisman on his mask's forehead.

I got up and faced August. He had an amused look on his face, a look I had grown to hate. He was before me and everywhere else were his henchmen.

"Come now Jade. What can you do against me?" He said opening his arms

"This!" I said, sprinting at him. He prepared himself for a fight but I was not planning to fight him. I swerved past him and grabbed one of the tendrils of his belt and with a simple tug, I was able to pull the belt free from his waist.

I ran up the rocky mountain and he followed close behind ordering his men to stop me. But they were too slow. The only one who had a chance at stopping me was him so it became a cat and mouse game with me being the mouse. I took out my phone and called Tohru.

When he answered I spoke in a panic. "Tohru, I need your help. I have the belt: how do I return the fighting abilities?"

"Make the fighters touch the Ois medallion and say 'Ois' that should return their ablilty."

"One by one?"

"Yes."

"That'll take too long!"

"Well, in order for a fighting ability to be taken or returned from or to the subject, the distance between them and the medallion should be zero but I could increase that with a spell then all you'd have to do is say the key word."

"Do it!"

I held my phone next to the belt as Tohru began to chant, "Yu Mo Gui Gwai Fie Di Jow!" repeatedly. The belt began to glow green. I got to the summit of the mountain I was running up and was momentarily out of the sight of August. I took the opportunity to hide. I chose to hide behind a small out crop of rocks. I heard August also summit.

"So you're going to hide from me? You better hope I don't find you!" He said looking behind rocks and other outcrops.

Soon I heard Tohru stop his chanting and I guessed it was now up to me. I leaned in close to the belt and whispered, "Ois." For a moment nothing happened, then a ball of green energy shot out of the belt into the night sky. Maybe August didn't see that. There's a chance that he still did not know where I am, right? To my horror another green ball shot out then two then three then five then too many to count. There was no way that August did not know where I was now. I got out of my hiding spot with the belt firing off green balls of energy into the night sky like fireworks.

When August saw me he looked worried. "What have you done!"

"Nothing." I said before resuming my retreat and him, his chase. All the time the green balls persisted.

"Did it work?" I heard Tohru ask through the phone.

"I think so," I answered placing the phone next to my ear. "But I haven't received my fighting ability."

"It works on a first in first out bases."

"Awe man! I was the last to lose my ability."

"Then you'll be the last to get it back." He bluntly stated.

/

Charles Brand looked up at the sky and saw green balls approaching the settlement. He thought about how romantic this would be. It like was watching shooting stars up close. The green balls descended on them and hit the captives. As soon as the green balls of energy collided with the men they briefly glowed green. He wondered how it felt like but he did not need to wonder for long as a green ball fell on him and he felt his fighting ability return.

He raised up his shovel and shouted, "people, we fight for our freedom!"

The men shouted their support before scaling the fence to engage in war with August's henchmen.

/

I heard the shouts as the prisoners escaped. August commanded his men off the mountain to help contain the prisoners. For some reason I glowed green and then I felt my fighting ability return and August saw it too. I smiled at him and threw the belt halfway between me and him and took a fighting stance.

"How many times do I have to beat you before you realise you can't win against me."

I won't lie; I wanted revenge for my previous defeat. Uncle Jackie did always say that revenge was beneath me but that doesn't mean I believed him. "Yes but this time there's no magic tricks, no henchmen, just you and me for the belt. I think it's appropriate."

He took his fighting stance then we both ran for the belt. He predictably reached out for it but I made the splits to cover the belt with my leg then as I brought myself by bringing my back leg in, I threw a few punches which he blocked. He raised his knee up and caught me in the chin. I stumbled back but simultaneously kicked the belt some distance behind me. I regained my balance and ignoring the pain in my chin continued fighting. He caught my arm and attempted to twist it in order to break it but I avoided that by summersaulting but I painfully landed on my butt. He still had a hold of my arm and was kicking me savagely at my spine. I was able to get my arm free and did the helicopter break dancing move to get him away from me. He stepped back out of the range of my helicopter and now that his path to the belt was clear he ran for it. I got up and chased. I knew I would not get to it before him so I just had to stop him from getting it. When he bent over to pick it up I leapt into the air and used both feet to kick him in each exposed butt cheek, sending him over his desired prize. I landed on my back but using my hands and swinging my legs I leapt to my. He was also up and I jumped into the air and twisted to deliver a jumping spinning kick. He raised his arms to block but I did not complete the move, instead I let myself fall to the ground and on my knees and head butted his exposed abdomen. He stumbled back from the blow. I kept chasing him giving him no break. I threw a double kick and he blocked one but was hit by the other, I faked left punched right and threw a few more kicks. I was wearing him down as I got around his defences. I eventually swept his legs out from under him and when I attempted to kick him in the face he caught my leg. He was desperate but he had already lost.

"You know," I began. "You say that Paco is beneath you but you both are the same. You lost your titles and you did questionable things after but you know what is the difference between him and you? You're not my friend." I jumped up to free my leg and brought both feet down into his face thereby knocking him out.

/

We had won. The captured fighters were able to take out August's men and with Paco's super strength help the victory became almost effortless. I went to Paco after I debriefed Brand.

"Hey can I have the Talisman back now." I asked putting my hand out.

He looked at me and did not answer. His muscles had gotten bigger and he was not as skinny as before. That was a side effect of using the talisman for long. I could not see his face through the mask but I sensed he did not want to give it back.

"Remember Paco, the Talisman does not make you strong. El Toro knew that."

He nodded and with great effort took off his mask and gave it to Jade.

"You don't have to give me your mask." I said.

He smiled. "I want you to have it Yade. It will be something you can remember me by. Maybe when you come next time we can do more than hunt villains."

From not wanting me around to inviting me back. I could not help but feel proud of the progress we made. "Yeah, you can wrestle and I'll be in the audience to support you."

He shook his head as if I did not get what he was trying to say but then he suddenly hugged me. "That is not what I meant but the next time you come I will be the best Lucha."

I hugged him back knowing that this was not the last time we see each other and hopefully we'll be better people next time.

 **The end….**


	2. Enter the Fish

**Chapter 2 Abstract** (Seriously ignore this part)

Jade Chan is a young woman who is a skilled fighter. As an Agent of Section 13 and with her ties to the world of magic, her life is far from normal. These are her adventures.

Jade Chan visits an old honorary member of the Chan Clan, Tohru. But sadly for these two this visit is not at all an uneventful one. They are thrown into a plot made by an evil chi wizard to recreate a powerful ancient magical artifact.

* * *

 **Enter the Fish**

The taxi stopped in front of a place I had not seen in a long time, Uncle's Antique Shop. It had been a long time since I was even in the neighbourhood. I got out and on the way in I heard someone call my name. I looked at the source of the voice which came from a red head crossing the street to get to me. I instantly recognised who it was.

"Emily? Nice to see…" She hugged me before I could complete my sentence. I had forgotten she was a hugger.

"Nice to see you again! Where have you been hiding yourself?" Emily asked me happily.

"Oh you know, here and there. But I don't really live here anymore."

"Yeah! I noticed; we should get together sometime… catch up. It's been so long since we hung out, ever since…"

She her voice dropped off into silence. I could tell she was trying to find a way to get herself out of the hole she had dug herself in. Everyone I knew or at least had known during my teenage years had avoided talking about my Uncle Jackie ever since he disappeared. And after that happened I began to shut myself from everyone including my only teenage neighbourhood friend Emily.

"Well, I have to go, you know help out in the shop." I say trying to dispel the awkwardness.

"Oh uhm, take my number and whenever you want to meet up…" She said.

I took out my phone and saved her number before saying goodbye. Emily had grown since we were teenagers. I remember how much trouble we'd get into but now I doubt we have anything in common. I suspected that we had grown to be too different to find any common ground. I failed to stop before I bumped into the door of Uncle's antique shop because of my deep reflecting. The collision served as my knock on the door as Tohru opened for me when he heard the bell at the door ring when I bumped into it.

"Jade! I was beginning to think that you would not come."

"I promised I would didn't I?" I said jumping to hug him. I loved hugging Tohru. There's something about his big, soft body.

He hugged me back and I felt his jolly laugh vibrate through his gut into me. His big hands held my shoulder when we finished with the pleasantries. "Now, I think we should get to work as we have a lot to do. You can tell me all about your life as we work."

/

We were in the shop basement. It was dusty and had a lot of 'junk' or as Tohru liked to put it antiques. Tohru and I were sorting them out according to where they originated, while I told Tohru what was new about my life.

"…so after the mission Captain Black promoted me to full agent." I finished telling him about my last adventure.

"I'm happy for you. It is what you've always wanted." He said in his quiet voice.

"What about you? What have you been up to?"

"Oh you know, the usual: selling antiques; trying to keep the store in order and studying as always."

"Yeah about your 'studies', care to tell me why you can track me anywhere I go?" I asked curiously while I threw some statue in a box marked Chin Dynasty."

"Well I… that is we…" I watched him, amused at his attempt to explain. "We, you and I, have a strong bond; a bond that exists even in the magical plain."

"Like lovers?" I teased him.

He blushed so hard that I almost laughed. I was being very naughty and I almost felt guilty.

"No! Not all strong bonds are… of that nature." He said waving his hands in the air.

"I'm only joking big guy. I know what you mean. So I have a bond with you in the magical plain."

"Yes. Remember when Uncle told you that you had as much potential as me to do magic?"

I remembered that. Uncle told me that unlike Tohru I lacked discipline but if I were to master it, I would be a good chi wizard but I was too young and impatient to be interested in all that studying. I still might be. "Yes I remember. I wish that was true."

"It is and it's not too late to learn. I could teach you."

I will admit, learning to do what Uncle and Tohru did, interests me but when I begin to think of all of the studying involved I begin to feel a migraine coming on. I did not graduate from one schooling system only to be thrown into another. "I don't think it would work. I have already decided to take a different path with my life. I'm now an agent of Section 13."

We heard the bell ring, meaning someone had entered the shop. We both exchanged glances.

"That is strange. I could've sworn I locked the door and why would anyone come in? I had put up the closed sign since this morning." He said to me.

He was getting up to check it out but I stopped him. "Don't, I'll get rid of them."

I climbed up the stairs that led out of the basement to the front of the store. I got behind the counter and saw three men. There were two pale men who were bulging with massive muscles. It almost seemed that there black muscle shirts were on the verge of ripping apart. They both had the same features, same faded, blonde hair; same blue eyes; same stern expression on their faces. They both flanked a man who was more my size albeit a little taller. He had a Russian cut, with only hair at the top of his head. He had paler skin than his companions. His brown eyes and all black clothes gave him any semblance of colour.

I did not like the look of these guys; they looked like trouble. "I'm sorry, we're closed. You'll have to come back another time."

"That's okay. We were not going to pay for anything we took anyways. Rotch! Botch!" The pale man said before he nodded his head as a signal for his men to begin looking around.

To my annoyance the big guys began looking around the shop. Breaking a few antiques while they searched for something. "Listen pal!" I began. "If you and your goons don't leave, I'll kick you out!" I said cracking my knuckles.

The two brutes stopped for a moment and then suddenly laughed. That was the last straw, these guys were begging for a Jade-Chan-beating. I jumped over the counter and headed for the closest muscled meat head. I punched him across the face and he did not seem fazed. He tried to punch me but he was too slow and I was able to dodge. I pushed myself off a shelf for leverage and caused the shelf to wobble. I tackled him back but the shelf was also about to fall over. I turned my attention to the shelf and grabbed it so that it would not fall over but all the things on the shelves slid off and hit the ground, some of them broke. I let go of the shelf to hold the side of my head in horror. The shelf continued to fall over on the things, breaking anything that was not already broken.

I had made a big mistake by turning my back on my opponent as I saw a big shadow loom over me. He tried to grab me but I dropped lower causing him to miss. I kicked him in the shin and knee and swivelled around to punch him with my back hand all the time shouting, "look what you did!" referring to the broken antiques. The man doubled over in pain as his other friend was coming over to help him. "Rotch." He shouted as he ran at us. Using the first man as a stepping board I leapt into the air and used my whole body to hit the other man, sending him flying back. He hit a big vase causing it to wobble dangerously. I leapt to stop it from falling and breaking but it was too late. It fell but thankfully it fell on the big man who softened its fall.

"Phew!" I said in relief. I heard a big sound behind me and when I turned around Rotch had raised the fallen shelf over his head and he hurled it at me. I was able to narrowly roll to the side as the shelf crashed on top of Botch breaking the antique vase.

Tohru came up the stairs shouting, "What is going on here!" he was devastated when he saw the carnage.

"It was them!" I said pointing at Rotch and Botch. Rotch began attacking me. I bobbed and weaved and rolled to dodge his attacks. I noticed that their boss, the smaller paler man, was missing. That was something that worried me. "Tohru, there was another with them. Go take care of him!" I blocked Rotch's kick which sent me flying hard into the floor and made skid a little. Tohru was about to come and help me but I stopped him. "I can handle this! Find the other guy!"

He nodded and left. I got up and charged at Rotch while he charged at me.

/

Tohru came to the second storage room of the building. He heard mumbling coming from somewhere. He followed the source of the mumbling and the closer he got the clearer the mumbling became. He realised that it was not mumbling but it was chanting. He saw the man responsible for it. He wore all black and had two stones orbiting each other above his opened palm.

"Uhm Mondae Ku. Ku Mondae Uhm." The man repeatedly chanted.

Tohru recognised it as an evil chi spell chant. "You, what are you trying to find?" Tohru asked.

The man looked at Tohru. "My name is Ledik, pig, and I am looking for one of these." He said showing Tohru the orbiting stones. "They're called…"

"Tion Stones!" Tohru said completing his sentence.

"Ah, the slug is educated. Yes, a Tion stone which is apparently somewhere in this store."

"I do not know why you want Tion Stones but considering you are practicing dark magic I cannot allow you to obtain it." Tohru said reaching behind his back and producing a salmon.

"You keep dead fish behind your back?" Ledik said in disgust. To the surprise of Ledik, Tohru began to chant. "A chi wizard! This day is just getting more and more interesting." He said before he also began chanting.

Good and evil chi energy respectively streamed out of their vessels, the salmon and the Tion Stones, and collided. Ledik's chi was a dark blue while Tohru's was green. There was an explosion of light from where the different energies met that drove them both to the floor. They both began to slowly get up.

"Not bad for an overgrown newt." Ledic said. "And I should know, I was trained by the Sacred Scroll Keeper, Aneon. Who instructed you in your studies?"

"The Shop Keeper, Uncle." Tohru said.

Ledik smiled and reached into a jar and emptied it onto the floor. At first only dust fell out then a distinct grey rock fell onto the dust. Tohru was horrified for Ledik had found what he was looking for. The three stones began to orbit in his hand and he began chanting. Tohru also began chanting, 'Yu Mo Gui Gwai Fie Di Jow!' but this time he simultaneously advanced on Ledik. Once again the chi energies streamed out and collided. This time Ledik's chi magic took on a darker shade of blue and after the explosion of light, Tohru was the only one off his feet and his fish had been destroyed.

"Why do you want the Tion stones?" Tohru asked struggling to get up.

"Think, worm. What famous artefacts are made of Tion stones?"

"No, you want to make…"

"That's right frog. You know what, frog is the perfect name for you." Ledik said before sending a beam of dark blue chi at Tohru that turned him into a large frog

/

Rotch was pressuring me into a corner. I jumped back to give myself space and then I ran up the wall. I ran for three steps before I flipped in the air and brought my knee onto Rotch's face, knocking him down. When Rotch was down I heard a sinister laugh and from the door of the storage room I saw a big frog jump out.

"Yuck. What is that!" It's not that I did not know what it was, it was a big grotesque frog, but what was it doing here and why was it hopping towards me? I stepped back trying to avoid the disgusting creature.

The sinister laugh continued and then I saw the boss of the dumb muscles come out. "Even your friend is now disgusted by you!" He said laughing.

"No." I said understanding the insult. I bent down to the frog, "Tohru, is that you?" I asked and to my horror it nodded.

The man continued to laugh loudly then he opened his palm to reveal three stones that began to levitate and orbit each other. "I guess this is the last we see you." He said before a beam of dark blue energy shot towards us.

I picked up frog-Tohru and pressed a secret button. The floor beneath us fell away and we fell into a pod that sped away before the energy got to us. The pod raced through a hidden tunnel. It took terrifying loops and dips before it dropped us at a building that only a few individuals on Earth knew about, the headquarters of Section 13. We were safe but Tohru was now a frog.

/

"So these guys turned Tohru into a frog?" Captain Black who was communicating with us through a TV screen said after I explained everything that happened to him.

"Yes. I need to track them down, they're menaces."

"Can Tohru heal himself?"

We both looked at the abnormally large frog that sat on the couch. The frog nodded.

"Good, anything you guys need you got it."

"Good because Tohru will need a few ingredients to turn himself back to normal and I'll need a few things to beat these guys up."

/

Section 13 had a fully stocked storeroom of ingredients for a variety of spells. It was built when Uncle suggested that they may need it for demon and evil fighting. Captain Black also borrowed us a Section 13 helicopter after he had tracked our targets' whereabouts near a major river. I was flying us through the air while Frog-Tohru sat beside me. He had a few ingredients in a crucible and used his frog hands to mix in the ingredients. Whatever he was cooking looked almost as disgusting as the warts on his back. He threw in an apple and stirred a while before fishing it out and swallowing it whole.

"That's better 'croak'." Frog-Tohru said surprising me.

"You… you can talk?" I said slowly said losing focus and making the helicopter lean to the left. The contents of the crucible began spilling as Frog-Tohru tried to hold on to the pot in an attempt to save it. I righted the helicopter to stop anymore liquid from spilling.

"Yes, I thought it 'croak' would be better if 'croak' I could talk as I 'croak' tried to fix myself 'croak'."

I nodded trying not to look freaked out.

"Ledik 'croak' is collecting Tion 'croak' stones."

Ledik? I guessed that must be the one who turned him into a frog. "Okay. And that is important because…"

"The Tion stones 'croak' are the same material that 'croak' were used to create the talis- 'croak' mans."

"Wait, is he planning to create a talisman?"

Frog-Tohru nodded.

"But how will he do it? Won't they created to lock away Shendu's power? How can he create one when there is no Shen Du's power to lock away?"

"All 'croak' you need is 'croak' a power that can be 'croak' stored in a noble animal. Uncle once told me of an ancient extinct species of aquatic 'croak' creatures called Gallant Fish. Unlike most animals all their members were noble animals and had a strong 'croak' relationship with the 'croak' magical plain. When I heard that Ledik was at 'croak' a major river I guessed that he was looking to harness the power 'croak' of these ancient creatures for his talisman 'croak'."

"Don't worry Tohru, we'll stop him."

/

Rotch and Botch were digging around the river bed while their leader sat cross legged chanting.

"Sir, we can't find it." Rotch said.

Ledik opened his eyes in annoyance. "Keep looking fool! And do not disturb me again." He went back to chanting and three stones in his palm began to levitate and orbit.

Rotch and Botch looked at each other before continuing to dig around in the mud. However, even with the cooperation of his men, Ledik's concentration was once again interrupted by a strong wind coming from the landing of a black helicopter and from that helicopter a woman dressed in her black Section 13 uniform and a big frog came out. They stood before them and it looked like a stand-off with Ledik and his two muddy, muscled brutes on one side and Jade and the big frog on the other.

"Ledik, 'croak' I know what 'croak' you're trying to do and it 'croak' won't work 'croak'. The Gallant 'croak' Fish died out a 'croak' long time ago 'croak'."

Ledik seemed amused. "The frog can speak!" He said laughing. Suddenly there was light coming from the mud.

Botch reached out to the light in the mud and from it he picked something out. He wiped it on his shirt and I saw that it was a silver scale with a green edge. Botch handed it to Ledik and he raised it in the air to inspect it under the rising moon.

"I do not need a living Gallant Fish to tap into their power; all I need is the remains of one!" He said raising the silver scale for Frog-Tohru to see. "Using this and the Tion stones, I can tap into the power of these creatures." He said.

"We'll stop you." I said.

"Then I better start taking you seriously. After all, you did somehow survive my last attack but you won't survive this one. I'm going to summon one of my most devastating weapons: Zoltch Maximas."

I saw the look on Botch and Rotch change. They were terrified and I guessed they knew this Zoltch.

"Master please…" Botch began to beg.

"Silence!" Ledik said before he began chanting, "Uhm Mondae Ku. Ku Mondae Uhm." A dark blue light came from the glowing stones in his hand and it rained on Botch and Rotch. Both men began floating in the air before they were slammed into each other and there was a resultant blinding light. When the light had faded Rotch and Botch had disappeared and there stood a repulsive monster. It had four muscled hands and two eyes that looked like four eyes that had not fused together properly. It's mouth was also mis-fused as it opened abnormally wide. It was three times the size of how big Tohru normally was and it was paler then Ledik. The monster moaned like it regretted its existence, it regretted being Zotlch.

I looked at the smiling Ledik. It seemed he really found joy in the abomination. "What is wrong with you?" I shouted.

He smiled before going away and letting his new creation attack Tohru and I. I'll admit, I was afraid when Zotlch screamed and sent a stream of its breath at us.

"This is 'croak' bad." Frog-Tohru said. "I'll need some time to turn that thing back to normal."

"No worries; I can beat him with the help of this." I showed Tohru a six sided stone with the outline of a blue rabbit on it.

"The Rabbit 'croak' Talisman!" He said in surprise.

I activated the talisman and sped at the monster with super speed. I punched him using all my super momentum and it felt like I was punching a brick wall. It did not look fazed by my attack as it tried to crush me. I was able to zip around it, dodging its four handed punches. Zoltch punched the ground with all of its four hands causing a shockwave. The shockwave off-balanced me and I fell on the ground. The monster jumped into the air and was going to land on me if I did not speed out of there. I made the mistake of stopping at what I thought was a safe distance to see the monster land where I had formerly been. When it landed it sent another stronger shockwave through the air and ground. The wave hit me where I stood which felt like being hit by punches on every part of my body. I flew back and crashed into a tree. I struggled to get up as I could still feel my bones and head vibrating from the attack. I looked at Frog-Tohru who was still chanting.

"YOuu caNnn't w-IIII-n, shRimmMp." Zoltch said.

Did he just call me shrimp? I hate being called that word; I was constantly teased because of my small size when I was young. "What… what did you just call me!" I felt my anger rise before I took off in a blur.

I hit Zoltch in all the weak points of a normal human man and I hoped it would work. I hit him at the shins, knees, neck, nose, eyes and the groin. In each weak point I stopped for a second and delivered about a hundred punches before I moved on to the next to do the same thing. I was like a black blur whizzing around his body. I was relieved when Zoltch fell to his knees moaning.

I sped to Frog-Tohru who had a red fish in one of his froggy hands. "I've got him on the ropes. How are you doing?" I said resisting the urge to speak too fast.

"I'm 'croak' done 'croak'." Frog-Tohru said before he pointed the face of the fish at Zoltch. A green beam shot out of the fish and encased Zoltch in a green bubble. "This will 'croak' purify him of all 'croak' bad chi energy."

A black liquid-like substance, that I knew was bad chi, began coming out of the body of Zoltch who was still in a green chi bubble. The bad chi was so much that it hid the monster from view and when it had disappeared Zoltch was gone only to be replaced by Rotch and Botch. I thought it was over but then bad chi began coming out from both brutes hiding them from sight. I looked down at Frog-Tohru and I remembered what he said. His spell would purify _all_ bad chi which meant even in their current form, Rotch and Botch were not free of bad chi. When all the bad chi energy had left their bodies all that was left were two skinny blonde twin boys who fell to the ground.

One of the boys looked at his skinny arms. "We're back to normal, no!"

I rolled my eyes knowing that these two would not survive prison. We may have defeated Ledik's lackies but we still had to defeat Ledik himself. "Do you know where Ledik is going?"

"Yes," Frog-Tohru said. "He's 'croak' is going to where the 'croak' talismans where first 'croak' created. We're going to China 'croak'."

/

We were flying over China. We were over the less developed parts of the country with a lot of low grade settlements and greenery. I looked at Frog-Tohru who looked grumpy or maybe that's how frogs. I asked it how he was doing.

"Are you okay?" I asked him as he threw in two red fish into the crucible. One of the fish was the one he used against Zoltch.

"I'm just 'croak' so frustrated that I'm 'croak' still a frog. If Uncle saw me now, he would be disappointed 'croak'."

"Oh, Uncle." I said feeling sad.

Frog-Tohru stopped stirring and looked at me. "I hope you're 'croak' still not angry with him 'croak'."

I looked at him which is something I should not be doing so often while flying a helicopter. "Who said I was ever mad at him."

"Well after he 'croak' left you never spoke 'croak' about him 'croak'."

I sighed; he was right. After Uncle left when I was a teenager I never spoke about him ever again and maybe that is why Tohru never brought him up. "Maybe I was angry at first; I mean when he left a few years after Uncle Jackie disappeared I was reminded that our family was breaking apart. But now that I'm older I understand his reasons for leaving. I would have done the same thing. Have you ever tried finding Uncle since he left?"

"Yes 'croak'. A few months 'croak' after he was gone 'croak' I tried to track him down with 'croak' a few spells but he was 'croak' masked from them 'croak'."

It had been such a long time since Uncle left or any of us have even heard from him. He was pretty old and more times than I could count I was worried that he was already… No, I should not think about these things, especially not before a battle. Tohru and I could talk about our family matters at a later time.

We were now close to the sight where Tohru said Ledik would be. He said that Ledik would need to create his talisman here because this was where Shen Du was banished and his power split into the twelve talismans. This is the place where there would be enough residual ancient chi magic to create another talisman.

/

Ledik sat in the middle of a long stone bridge which on the side had a board written Dà de xiao shítou Bridge. He sat in the centre in a lotus position chanting, "Uhm Mondae Ku. Ku Mondae Uhm." Three stones orbited around a remnant of a beast long extinct. A bright white light began radiating from the levitating objects above his palms. He did not move or lose his focus when he heard the helicopter approaching. He was so close, all he needed was a little more time.

/

I saw him as I flew over the stone bridge. I brought the helicopter to hover just behind the man. I took a flat touch screen device located on the side of the controls. I loved Section 13 helicopters because each came with its own device that allowed them to be remotely controlled. I used the controller to stabilize the helicopter at its position. I then tucked it into a secret pocket in my uniform and jumped at the back an opened the door.

"I'm going out there! You can join me when you're done!" I shouted over the roar of the helicopter."

"Wait, 'croak' we're too high in…" Tohru began but I did not hear the rest of his statement as I had already jumped out.

I was falling feet first. I had my arms crossed over my chest in an X while my legs were together pointing straight down. Thanks to the help of the Rabbit Talisman I was able to spin at super speeds causing a swirling updraft of air which slowed down my descent. I was able to land softly on the stone bridge. I super sped to Ledik who was still sitting down and when I was about to touch him a small dome appeared and bounced me back when I struck it. He had employed some kind of force field around him but I saw that it was weak as it already had a crack from my collision with it. The force field was invisible again but the crack I had made could be seen suspended in mid air. If I could break the force field in time I might still be able to stop him.

I began rapidly hitting, aided by super speed. Every time, which was all the time, I punched it, it became visible and more cracks appeared. I saw the three stones begin to liquefy and they moulded around the scale, hiding it from sight. The plasma mixture began to solidify and take shape. It became a six sided grey talisman and a silver outline of a fish appeared on the flat side of the talisman. I was too late! The talisman had been created. But wait, the talisman was still in mid air above his palm and I guessed that it had not been activated yet. If I can stop it from landing in his palm and him activating it I may still have a chance. I would need to be fast but lucky for me I had the Rabbit Talisman on my side.

I hit the dome with other super-fast punches and it began to shatter just as the talisman began to fall into Ledik's palms. I rushed in and reached out to the falling talisman, it was going to be close... When my fingers was millimetres away from the newly created talisman it fell into his hands and he grasped it. I missed it and when I saw the talisman glowing I knew that he had activated it.

Ledik got up smiling. He placed the talisman with the silver glowing outline of the fish in his shirt at his chest. It seemed he had designed his shirt to hold the talisman.

"Hm, the Fish Talisman. All fear Ledik holder of the Fish Talisman with the power to make him breath underwater! I shake-th in my boots!" I said with my hands on my hips. To be honest I was more worried than I led on. I did not really know what the talisman did but I hoped I would be able to handle it.

"Fish Talisman, yes, I like that name. And as for what it actually does… well why don't you test it, test me."

"Fine." I said taking an 'on your marks' position before I became a blur headed for him. I hit him in super speed but never stayed in one place for too long, just as quickly as I hit him I was gone. I did this because I still did not know what the Fish talisman could do.

He did not move; he did not budge. It was not like hitting Zoltch, his skin felt like skin and his bones felt like bones but for some reason my attacks did not seem to affect them. His skin folded around my punches and kicks but that was all it ever did, it did not bruise, his bones did not break. I began employing the same strategy I had used to defeat Zoltch; I attacked all his weak points but even that did not have any affect. He just stood there perfectly still with a smile on his pale face.

I realised that I would need a different strategy so I reached out for the Fish Talisman located at his chest. As soon as I grabbed it, powerful yellow electricity surged into my body along with a powerful invisible force that threw me back onto my back. I took of my half burnt and smoking glove and threw it on the floor.

"Tsk tsk, you tried to cheat. I'm very disappointed." Ledik said with a smirk on his face.

I grunted before I began another flurry of super speed attacks. I had run out of ideas and like a mad person I was trying the same thing again. Ledik did something I never expected or even thought was possibly, while I was attacking him he grabbed my wrist which had the effect of stopping me stone dead in my tracks. I looked at his smiling cocky face in surprise. Suddenly his pupils shrunk and his mouth gaped open while he looked out into space. He was like this for three seconds before his eyes returned to normal and he closed his mouth.

He looked at me with a serious look. It was the first time I saw him looking that serious but it was not only that he looked serious; I also saw a little fear in his eyes. "You, Jade Chan, will be a dark force on this Earth. Worse than I could ever be."

I looked at him confused. It was the first time he had used my name to address me, I wondered how he knew considering I never told him. "A 'dark force'? Are you kidding? Don't you know whose side I'm fighting on? I'm the good guy."

"If you survive this, it will not be like that in the days to come." He said with the same look on his face. "Join me now and we can take this world together!"

Was this guy seriously trying to seduce me to the dark side? He may have discovered my name but he did not know me. "No thanks, that sounds like too much work." I said before vibrating my wrist at super speeds. This allowed me to slip out of his grasp and with both hands I rapidly punched him in the face. I don't know how many times I punched him but I'm guessing that it was more than 500 times. Right and left jabs, swinging punches, every kind of punch I knew but still it did not work. He kicked me in the gut which sent me flying back before I hit the ground rolling.

I got up badly bruised. I was getting nowhere. I looked up and saw a green-ish creature with warts jump from the helicopter above, heading for Ledik with a red fish in either of its hands. Frog-Tohru was in a frog splash position which I thought was appropriate. He began to glow yellow and just before he made contact with Ledik who was below him his body change and he was no longer Frog-Tohru but Human-Tohru. He made a big impact when he landed on top of Ledik displacing dust on the way.

I could not see Ledik totally. I could not believe it but Tohru had not only cured himself, he had also defeated Ledik. I threw a fist into the air, "Go Tohru! Go!"

He looked at me with a shy smile that quickly disappeared when his body began to quake. His body rose and I saw Ledik lifting him up and he threw him away from him. Tohru landed painfully and he could not cushion his fall with his hands as he had the red fish in both hands.

Tohru quickly got up. "Let's see how _you_ like being a frog!" He said before chanting and pointing both fish at Ledik. A green stream of chi energy shot out of each fish and headed for Ledik. Ledik swatted the beams with his back hand and deflected them towards me. I was hit with the chi beam and I changed into a frog, albeit much smaller than the one Tohru had turned into. Tohru's eyes went wide with panic.

"I'm sorry, Jade!" He said.

I wanted to say don't be sorry and fix me but all that came out of my mouth was, 'croak'.

Tohru sent another beam of chi magic this time to me which began to change me back to normal, simultaneously he was hit by dark chi which changed him back into a frog. Frog-Tohru waved the fish over his frog body and he was changed back to normal. It seemed he had mastered the frog cure. But I doubted that it would help against this guy. I began to feel hope when I heard the sound of helicopters.

I waved Tohru back. "Tohru move away! Things are about to get dangerous."

Tohru nodded before running to the other side of the bridge. Ledik looked up as four black helicopters appeared with machine guns aimed at him. I smiled, I had called in some Section 13 back up before I came here and it seemed to be about to pay off. I knew there was no way Ledik could survive this. Ledik did not even flinch when he saw four high calibre machine guns aimed at him. He opened his arms. "Come then! Hit me with your best!"

I gave them the signal to fire and all four machine guns fired. It was the one of most horrible and violent thing I had experienced thus far. I covered my ears in an attempt to block out the sound but it did not help. The smell of gun powder permeated the air as Ledik was in the middle of flashing bullets and lead but he was not cut down like I expected. His arms were still wide open like he was being crucified on some invisible cross. I knew the guns were nearing their end but still Ledik would not go down.

When it was all over he stood in the middle of bullet shells unharmed. "You all do not seem to understand the power that the Fish Talisman gives me! It does not make me invulnerable, it makes me invincible! I am an immovable object with an unstoppable force! Everything I want to crush will turn into dust! All that tries to bend me will only succeed in bending itself! Anything I want break…" He stomped his leg on the bridge and a crack began to extend from his foot to either side of the width of the bridge. "…will crumble!"

After he said that, the part of the bridge on my side began to break up. I was so stunned that I did not move at first and was dangerously close to going down with it. I snapped out of it when I heard Tohru call out my name. I used the super speed given to me by the Rabbit Talisman to escape the falling section of the bridge. I sped across falling chunks but I realised that I would not make it. That is until one of the helicopters dropped a ladder down. I jumped for the ladder and was able to grab the last rung. I looked back at Ledik who clapped and brought forth a great wave of air that hit all four helicopters, making them lose control. I was able to get to the other side of the bridge before they went away to crash and just like that my back up was defeated.

The bridge was almost gone. I looked across the empty space and saw Ledik and when I looked below I saw that part of the bridge had been swallowed by the river below.I took out the remote control device of the helicopter Tohru and I had used to come here. As expected its screen was cracked from all the falls and hits I had endured.

"Uhm, what are you doing?" Tohru asked.

"Ledik just gave me an idea. We can't destroy him but we can destroy the Earth he stands on." I said before I killed the engines of my helicopter. It suddenly dropped from the sky and landed on the bridge, behind Ledik, finishing it off as it crumbled into the river below. Ledik was taken by surprise as he fell with the remaining bridge.

I had brought us time before Ledik would get up again. "We need to call Black and make him nuke this place. Maybe that will work." I said.

"No Jade, remember, Magic must defeat magic." Tohru reminded me.

"But we've tried that and it did not work!" I said in a panic.

Tohru grabbed me by the shoulders to calm me. "Don't lose hope. I can still beat him but I need more power, I need your help. Do you believe in me, Jade?"

I looked at him in the eyes which helped in calming me down. He was right, I should not lose hope, Jackie wouldn't have. I nodded, "What's the plan big guy."

"Just say the spell with me and I will do the rest." He said offering his hand that was holding the fish. I grabbed it and we began to say the spell, 'Yu Mo Gui Gwai Fie Di Jow!' although not in perfect harmony, my Jow was a bit longer than Tohru's. We began to levitate and our eyes and bodies began to glow. I glowed orange while Tohru glowed green.

It felt amazing it was like we became fused into one although we each still had our own bodies. We were no longer Jade and Tohru but we were a whole different being. I knew all his desires; his fears; what he was thinking and I knew it was the same for him. I felt what he felt, he thought what I thought. At that moment I understood our deep bond better. We saw the Ledik crawling out of the river and standing up below us. We/I pointed the fish at his direction and a vortex made of green and yellow energy shot out and spun to him.

"That won't work!" Ledik screamed as he held out his hand to stop the chi attack. But our/my chi vortex narrowed and went wound around and past his outstretched hand and arm and struck the talisman at his chest before it straightened out, but still connected to the talisman. The talisman began to crack and Ledik saw it. We/I knew that we/I could not beat Ledik as long as he had the talisman so we/I did not target him but the fish talisman itself. The talisman began to crack.

"No!" Ledik shouted before the talisman broke apart and sent out a pulse of blue chi energy that he was caught in. The pulse was able to knock him out.

Once the deed was done Tohru and I floated to the ground while our glowing began to cease. The knowledge I had gained about Tohru began to rapidly disappear from my mind. But I knew the effects on my psyche would last a long time, making our bond stronger.

/

Section 13 had appeared to take custody of Ledik and attend to the agents who were in the helicopters who got hurt. I sat looking at Tohru who was talking to Captain Black via a video call. The sun was rising over rural China and it made the scene beautiful. I smiled when Captain Black made a joke that Tohru did not get. Today made me realise that the bonds I make with people are very important and I forgot that when Jackie disappeared and Uncle left. I promised myself I would try harder to maintain these bonds and relationships.

I took out my mobile phone and called a number that I did not think I would ever call. "Hey Emily, it's Jade. Do you remember when you said we should hang out…"

 **The end…**


	3. V2

**Chapter 3 Abstract** (Pretend that this part doesn't even exist)

Jade Chan is a young woman, who is a skilled fighter. As an Agent of Section 13 and with her ties to the world of magic, her life is far from normal. These are her adventures.

After receiving an urgent call for back up, Section 13 sends in Agent Jade Chan to help. However, Jade strongly dislikes one of the agents se has been tasked to help, Vicky. Matters are further complicated when Jade uses a talisman during battle...

* * *

V2.111...

(pronounced V2 point one one one recurring, I couldn't figure out how to make the recurring dot thing over the one)

My watch began beeping. I was in the cafeteria of Section 13's secret base eating a burger, fries and soda when I heard my watch's alarm going off. The beeping meant that Captain Black was summoning me for an urgent meeting. I took a few more bites of my burger before running off, leaving the food on the table. I came back to the table choking on the last bites of burger I took and drank some of the soda to wash the food down before leaving. However, I came back again to eat a few fries before leaving and coming back to just finally take the whole food and eating it on the go. What? I was taught not to waste food.

I entered the meeting room after a lengthy walk through the busy halls. The meeting room had a long, white couch and a flat screen television that hung on the wall. As usual, Captain Black's face appeared on the screen. His eyebrow cocked up when he noticed the food I was holding.

Noticing his look, I smiled nervously. "It didn't feel right just wasting it." I said laughing awkwardly before the food slipped between my arms and landed on the floor, making a mess.

I gave an apologetic smile and Captain Black sighed. "On to the business at hand. I trust you know Agents Vicky and Jaime."

"Yes." I said folding my arms over my chest defensively. I never really liked Vicky. I don't know why, maybe it was because of her stupid attitude, her stupid seniority over me, her stupid voice. I just really don't know why.

"They were sent on a mission two days ago to investigate a few strange crimes." The Captain continued. "We've had jewellery, technology and rare artefacts stolen. This is the only footage we have of the perpetrators."

Captain Black's image shrunk on the screen and was replaced by footage captured by a security camera. The footage showed six men wearing all black with a white image of a foot on their backs entering a bank volt with a man in a suite tied up. The men quickly took out two security guards. The footage ended before another piece of footage of the same event appeared. In this footage there was suddenly more men in black and they all had walking canes with orbs at their ends. They overpowered a small group of security guards before forcing the man they had tied up to open the vault.

Something looked familiar about the cane wielding men in black. They had a ski mask on, hiding their faces but the way they fought looked strangely familiar. And the way that they seemed to appear out of no where worried her. "What happened to the man in the suite?" I asked.

"He's still alive but he doesn't remember the attack."

"What?"

"All of the living witnesses don't remember even getting robbed or being part of the robbery." Captain Black said, sounding as confused as I was. "Vicky and Jaime tracked the criminals down to a neighbourhood where a gang called the Scorpios operate. They believe that the Scorpios might be the ones who are responsible. A few minutes ago we received an urgent call for back up from Jaime only to have it retracted a few seconds later by Vicky. Nonetheless, we want you to join them, just in case they do need back up on their mission."

I smiled at myself. It would be nice to rub it in Vicky's face that Section 13 had so little faith in her ability that they sent me to help.

"We have a transport ready for you that will be leaving in... two minutes."

"What? I'll get my stuff." I said running out of the room. I knew I would not have time to fetch my gun so I would need another kind of item to help me on the mission and I was thinking of the bull talisman.

I ran to the vault as my watch began beeping again. This time it was telling me that my transport was about to leave. I needed to hurry up and get the talisman. I got to the vault and typed in the codes I memorized into the security pad and scanned my retinas to get through to the door. My retina scan had been coded into the security system along with Jackie's. I suspect Captain Black had uncharacteristically forgotten to take me off the system.

The beeping got louder and more urgent making me panicky. I looked at my watch while reaching out for the bull talisman. "I'm coming! Hold your horses!" I placed the talisman I took off the stand into my pocket before quickly closing the vault and dashing out for the transport.

/

I jumped out of the jet and plummeted to the earth. I activated my parachute and floated safely onto a building. I took off the bag and descended to the ground before looking for Vicky and Jaime's base of operations, which was a small apartment. I knocked on the door and was surprised when the door opened to reveal Agent Jaime pointing a gun at my face.

"J-Jaime?" I said stepping back.

"Who... Who are you?" Jaime said as his shaky hand pointed his gun at my face.

"It's me: Jade! You know, fellow Agent in arms." I said slightly raising my hands.

"Well that can't be true." He said squinting at me through his horn-rimmed glasses. "An Agent of Section 13 would have used the identifier knock as stated in protocol 32, Strangers in Arms initiative."

I sighed as I realised that I had messed up. Jaime was right. Theere was a specific way I should have knocked. "Uhm... let's close the door and I'll do the special knock thing."

Jaime raised his eyebrow. "There are no second chances in espionage."

"Hmpf... that sounds like something Vicky would say." I said getting annoyed.

"Actually it is." I heard a voice say from behind Jaime. Vicky appeared from behind Jaime. She had on a white spy suite with green lines running across her slender frame. She stood taller than both Jaime and I and had long blonde and green eyes. Her fair skin contrasted sharply with Jaime's dark toned brown skin.

I guess most stupid guys would consider her beautiful but me personally, I've seen better... in magazines and on TV.

"Be lenient with Jade." She told Jaime while patting him on the shoulder. "Everyone in Section 13 knows of her weakness in following rules and protocol."

"Hello to you too, Vicky." I said while barging past Jaime who had dropped his gun down in relief.

"What are you doing here?" She asked as she strapped a brown gun holster over her shoulder.

"I'm answering your desperate call for back up." I said, admittedly smug.

Vicky adopted an evil stare that was aimed at Jaime, which made him sweat profusely. "I... I'm sorry. I panicked. We don't rally need help." Jaime said.

"As you've heard my partner say, we don't need any help. I trust you can find your own way home." She said as she dug out a black jacket from a bag on the couch in the small apartment.

"I don't think so," I said."Section 13 thought that you needed my help and I'm going to give it."

I was happy to see Vicky visibly annoyed. "Fine. Come Jaime, I'll teach you how to complete a mission even with unwelcomed... circumstances." She said putting on her small leather jacket over her white spy suite.

"Yeah, Jaime. I'm going to show you how to complete a mission too hard for _some people_ to handle on their own." I said following Vicky out the door. Jaime followed out and closed the door behind us.

/

The three spies walked on the street together, heading to their next location. Jade and Jaime walked slightly behind Vicky as she was leading the way.

"Jade. Is it true that you are a full time agent?" He asked while pushing his glasses up his nose with his finger.

"Well, they wouldn't send a probationary agent as back up." I said proud of myself.

"Unreal! We both became probationary agents at the same time. How come you got promoted to full agent so quickly?" Jaime asked me.

"They saw my natural talent..." I began but was rudely interrupted by Vicky.

"Or it could be because you are well acquainted with Captain Black." Vicky said looking back at us. "While Jaime and I had to work hard to get where we are now, all Jade had to do was give ol' Uncle Black the puppy dog eyes and then BAM, Full time agent."

I clenched my fists as I heard the accusation. I'm sure at that moment I was growling because I felt like a mad dog. "Are you suggesting that I did not prove myself to get promoted?" I said, stopping myself from adding a few more unladylike words to my sentence. "Pfft, while I was a child I was helping Section 13 battle the forces of evil while you were playing with dolls and make-up." I waited for her to respond and calmed down when she did not. I had won this round. "Where are we going, anyways?" I said walking faster so that she would not be in the lead. "Are we going to the Scorpios base?"

"No," she simply said. "Jaime, explain."

"Although the Scorpios are a notorious and dangerous gang that works within this vicinity, we have deduced that they are not involved with the string of bizarre robberies." Jaime said from behind us. "We believe this is the work of an entirely different gang called the White Foot. We're going to their base now."

"What about the Scorpios. If they're as dangerous as you say then we shouldn't let them run free." I said, genuinely concerned about a gang such as the Scorpios out on the streets.

"They are a problem for the police. All we have to worry about is our mission." Vicky said.

I hated the fact that she was right, so I stayed quiet. We eventually reached the White Foot's headquarters. It was a factory like building. We entered the yard and saw three men in the White Foot uniform, all black uniform with a white foot at the back, loading boxes onto a small truck parked at the entrance.

"Looks like they are transporting their ill gotten gains." Vicky said while we were hiding behind a tall structure. "I say we split up. Some of us follow the truck and the others stay here and scope out the area."

"No." I protested. "We don't even have a vehicle to follow the truck and we can't let them escape with their loot. I say we stop them here and now."

"What do you think we should do, Probie?" Vicky said looking at Jaime, prompting me to also do the same.

"I... I... I don't know." Jaime said.

Vicky and I both rolled our eyes before we retuned our focus on the scene in front of us. To my horror the White Foot had loaded up the last box and were preparing to close the door of the truck. This was bad; I did not want to lose that truck with all its merchandise. I ran out of our hiding place and charged at the White Foot alone.

I reached the truck and round kicked the first White Foot I came across. He fell on the ground while his comrades saw me and took out their guns. I heard the truck passenger door open and looked back in time to see a man in a White Foot uniform and a ski mask run at me with a raised walking cane with an orb at its end. I heard gunfire and he fell to the ground. I looked to my side and saw Vicky holding a smoking gun in her hand while she and Jaime ran towards my position.

The truck began rumbling before it lurched back. I could not stop the vehicle as it backed into Vicky and she disappeared behind it. I could help but hold my breath as I saw her gun being thrown clear from the truck and I did not see her body. Had it run her over? I mean I didn't like her but I did not want to see her dead. To my relief I saw her climbing up onto the roof of the truck.

"Jaime!" She commanded him from the top of the truck, with her golden hair fluttering about. "Help Jade take down the gang. I'll tail the truck."

"No!" I protested. "You can't just leave a probationary agent that is under you." I said remembering the rule well from my days as a probationary agent and the partner I had.

Vicky smiled and gave me a cocky salute before the truck turned around and headed for the exit. It suddenly stopped, sending the blonde woman off her feet and rolling on the roof. I know it's bad but I could not help but smile at that. Another member of the White Foot jumped from a balcony of the factory onto the truck's roof. He also had a cane with an orb at its end. Vicky got up and looked ready to fight. The man with the cane charged at her but I could not see the what happened as I had to focus on the fight I was in.

Two more White Foot came out of the building to join the third one I had kicked onto the ground, who was getting up. They dug in their waste for guns until a cracking voice shouted, "stop!"

Jaime pointed his gun at them, with shaky hands. Could he not be more obvious?

"I have a gun so... stop!"

"Jaime, if one of them moves, shoot!" I advised.

Unfortunately one of them did move, to take out his gun and Jaime did shoot but there was no bang- no bullet. Something had gone wrong with his gun! He brought the gun close to his chest and bent his head to see what the problem was. By doing so he saved his life, twice. A bullet whizzed over his head as he bent it down and another hit the gun in his hands, sending it away.

He looked forward with his eyes wide. "Safety was on," he said surprised to still be alive.

I had to run forward and shout to get their attention before they got a second shot at him. Like a rolling wheel I consecutively kicked the guns out of their hands. I thought they were now unarmed but they produced wooden batons from their backs.

"You two take care of the Black guy; I'll handle the Asian witch!" One of them said looking at me with a sinister look in his face.

I looked at Jaime who stood completely still as the two men ran for him. "Jaime, run!" I said as the other man came at me.

The man predictably raised his baton and sung it down at me. I blocked his forearm and twisted it while bringing it down, thereby forcing his grip to loosen and drop the baton. He was in a prime position for me to shift forward and elbow him beneath the chin. He stumbled back and I finished him off with a thrusting kick to where his stomach met his chest. He flew back and landed on the ground unconscious.

I gritted my teeth while I looked for Jaime. He was gone and I deduced that he had ran around the corner of the factory. Vicky was still struggling with her attacker on the roof of the truck before it moved forward for the exit. I ran as I knew I had to make a choice: if I turned left I would be following Jaime and helping him with the two men chasing him and if I turned right I would help Vicky with her attacker on the roof and stop the truck. I needed help, magical help. With the Bull talisman, I could easily stop the truck and then get to Jaime.

I reached into my pocket and felt the hexagonal item. I took it out and activated it before I looked down at it. My eyes went wide with shock when I saw that in my hand was not the Bull talisman but the Tiger talisman! I must have grabbed the wrong talisman when I was distracted at Section 13. I tried stopping it but it was too late, the talisman had already activated and a bright white light came out of the talisman and engulfed me. When the blinding light receded, I stood there, they stood there, we stood there: Jade Ying and Jade Yang.

/

 _Jade Ying_

Jade Ying looked at her sister. She looked just like her, same short black hair, same black spy suit with a white lines framing her, same height but there was something different about her. Her eyes were hard with a dark look in them.

"Jade summoned us to help," she told her sister with her soft voice.

"Pfft! Don't be a fool! Jade had no intention of summoning us. This was a total accident." Her harder sister said before running of in a direction.

"Wait!" Jade Ying said, struggling to make her voice loud enough without it cracking. To her surprise, Jade Yang did stop and looked back at her. "We need to help Vicky." She said pointing at Vicky who was on the roof of the moving truck, struggling with a White Foot gang member.

"Her? I would not lift a finger to help her but if you want to you can. It's your waste of time." She said before running off.

Jade Ying sighed before looking down at the half Tiger talisman in her hand. She placed it in her pocket before running after the truck. She came across Vicky's discarded gun and grabbed it. "Vicky!" She struggled to shout again, to get her fellow spy's attention before throwing the gun at her like a boomerang.

Vicky had her hands locked with her attacker's cane but as soon as she saw the gun Jade had thrown land just behind her. She let go of the cane and rolled backwards. When she came up, she was on one knee with the gun in her hands aimed at her attacker. She shot him once in the head and he fell over.

The body hit the ground and Jade's surprise, it disappeared in a yellow light. She continued chasing after the truck that pulled further away from her. The truck exited the factory yard and got onto the road. To do so it had to take a sharp turn, this threw Vicky off the top and into a garbage heap. She got up from the garbage and saw the truck pull away from her.

Vicky stepped onto the road and stopped a man on a Harley Davis by thrusting her palm forward.

"Woah lady, what's the ma..." The man had begun speaking but was silenced when Vicky pulled out a gun on him.

"Shut up and Get off!" She said walking towards the bike. The man raised his hands as he got off. She got on the bike and saw Jade running out of the factory yard after her.

"Vicky wait!" Jade said getting used to shouting when she needed to. Vicky looked at her with an annoyed look on her face before revving the bike and speeding away. "Vicky... wait!" She uselessly said as Vicky got further away.

She tried to stop a few cars on the road, "Excuse me... Hey, would you please... Hello sir I..." She tried to stop them but the drivers ignored her, not giving her the time of day. She realised that no one would stop so she jumped onto the boot of one of moving the cars. She jumped to another car, moving forward. And just like that, vehicle to vehicle, she got ahead and kept following Vicky who was in front of her and who was clearly visible by her hair which flapped and glinted on the road like a golden flag. She hoped that soon, she would catch up to her and the truck.

/

 _Jade Yang_

Jade Yang looked at her sister. She looked just like her, same short black hair, same black spy suit with white lines framing her, same height but there was something different about her. Her eyes were soft with an unsure look in them.

"Jade summoned us to help," she heard her sister tell her in a soft voice.

"Pfft! Don't be a fool! Jade had no intention of summoning us. This was a total accident." She answered. She remembered that Jaime was in trouble from the White Foot chasing him and began running in that direction.

She was forced to stop when she heard her sister's crackling voice yell, "Wait!" She looked back at her to listen to what she had to say. "We need to help Vicky." She said pointing at Vicky who was on the roof of the moving truck, struggling with a White Foot gang member.

The words that came out of her sister's mouth disgusted her. Help Vicky? Why would she ever do that? "Her? I would not lift a finger to help her but if you want to you can. It's your waste of time." Jade Yang said before resuming her running and leaving her sister to her own devices.

She looked down at her hand and saw half of the Tiger talisman. She pocketed it before catching up to the two thugs who had cornered Jaime against a wall.

"Hey!" Jade said getting their attention. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"

A look passed between the two thugs before they both charged at her. Jade smiled to herself, "I love it when they fight!" She said before she also charged at them.

The three met and fought. The fight was viscous and short. In a matter of seconds, Jade had disarmed one of the men, dislocated the shoulder of another and broken two ribs of the other. Both men were soon lying on the floor, bruised and bleeding. Jade, however, kept beating at them with their own batons with glee on her face.

"Don't... Don't you think you're being a little excessive?" Jaime asked feeling scared at what he saw Jade do.

"When it comes to kicking butt, there is no excessive." Jade said before hitting one of the guys over the head with a baton. "It seemed like there were too few of these guys, didn't it?"

Jaime nodded.

"Then let's pay the rest of them a visit. You wanna get a shot in?" Jade offered Jaime by pointing at one of the men with a baton. When Jaime shook his head she threw away the baton. "Then let's go."

/

There were three more men in the factory in White Foot uniform. Two of them held batons while the third one had a laptop under her arm.

"It's been quiet. You think we won." One of them said.

"Well, the gunshots have stopped and there are no sounds of sirens," the man with the laptop said. "I think we're safe!"

As soon as he said that, three bodies flew through the door and crashed into the three men. There was pile of bodies to welcome Jade and Jaime who was hiding behind her.

"Is this the rest of the White Foot?" Jade said with a disgusted look on her face. "Pathetic! Where is your leader?"

The three un-bruised and still conscious men were now scared of her and answered her questions. "He's not here."

"Where is he?" She pressed.

"We don't know."

"Who is he?"

"We don't know."

Jade walked to them and kicked one of them in the head like one would kick a football. "So you guys don't know where or who your boss is?"

"We... we can't remember!" One of them said.

Jade stepped back and began a whispered conversation with Jaime. "What do you think? Are they talking the truth?" She asked him.

"It could be," Jaime whispered back. "Their minds may have been wiped clean like the other witnesses to protect the identity of the boss or the exact method of how they could summon an army from seemingly out of nowhere."

"So they are currently without a boss." She said before stepping forward. "Alright men, you're looking at your new boss."

"What? Jade, this is not..." Jaime began to protest.

"Quiet, Jaime." She said raising her hand in front of his face. "As your new boss, I will not accept nothing but the best. That includes getting id of this dump of a base of operations." She said looking around her at the old factory. "Is there any other base of operations we could take over?"

"Well, there is the Scorpio's headquarters." One of them said.

"Good. Where is it?" She asked.

"Jade, you can't be serious." Jaime said.

"Quiet, Jaime!" She said getting visibly annoyed by him. "The next time you speak without being spoken to, I'll have you gagged," she said to him. Tell me where their base is."

The White Foot with a laptop opened it and began typing before bringing up a map. "They have three headquarters, here, here and here." The man said pointing at the places where the Scorpios were on the map on his laptop's screen.

"Good! And heck, why should we just take their headquarters, let's take over their whole criminal business! We'll be rich!" Jade said.

Upon hearing her plan, Jaime could not help but speak up. "Jade, we...!"

"That's it! You," Jade said pointing to one of the members of her new gang, "Gag him!"

The man smiled as he grabbed Jaime and tied a piece of dirty cloth over his mouth, shutting him up.

"Now, let's plan our hostile takeover!" Jade said smiling evilly.

/

 _Jade Ying_

Jade jumped onto the roof of another car. In front of her was a bus and beside the bus was Vicky on a bike. She made a running start before leaping for the bus in front. Her hands grabbed the edge of the bus and she pulled herself up on the roof. Running forward on the roof she spotted Vicky below on her motorbike.

"Vicky!" She called out.

Vicky looked up and could not believe what she saw. She looked ahead and tried to get an opening so that she could get away. Jade realised that she would lose Vicky if she did not find some way of stopping her or...

An idea formed in her mind. She stood on the edge of the bus focussing on Vicky's bike. Suddenly, she leapt off the bus and twisted in midair, causing her to land seated on the bike, behind Vicky.

Vicky was shocked by the sudden appearance of a body behind her and she momentarily lost control of the bike as it wobbled for a moment. "Jade! Are you crazy?" She shouted.

"I'm sorry but I tried to get your attention but I guess you couldn't see me." Jade said holding on to Vicky's waist.

"Of course I didn't" Vicky said sarcastically.

"I knew it!" Jade happily said. She had begun to suspect that Vicky was trying to leave her behind but now she had confirmation that she wasn't, not at all.

They followed the truck to a large estate. It was a multi storey house with a huge gate. The gate slid open to allow the truck with the stolen goods in. Vicky stopped little away from the gate in order not to be spotted.

"We need to get in there." Vicky said surveying for another way in.

"We could use that tree." Jade said from behind her pointing to a tree near a wall. Vicky agreed and they left the bike on the side of the road before climbing the tree.

They got to the top of the tree and jumped down to the other side of the wall, into the property. Jade was easily able to scale the tree and offered words of encouragement and advice to Vicky, who seemed freaked out by Jade's sudden kindness. When they were on the other side they ran across the wide field to an entrance of the house.

They searched the rooms of the house and finally came upon a room that had a container on the outside.

"The person behind all this must be in there." Jade said to Vicky who was crouching on the ground along with her.

"Most likely," Vicky said narrowing her eyes at the room ahead of them. "Here's the plan: I'll go in there alone and apprehend whoever this guy is and you... you'll stay out here and make sure no one goes in while I'm dealing with the scum."

"Okay."

"Look you'll also be back up if... wait, did you just say 'okay'?"

"Yes." Jade said.

Vicky was beyond confused. She thought Jade would at least protest at such a bad plan but she was not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. "Okay." Vicky uneasily answered before tip toeing away from Jade to the door.

Vicky had never let anyone know this but this mission was personal to her. As soon as she saw the security footage of the cane wielding masked men, as soon as she saw the things stolen, as soon as she read what had happened to the witnesses, she knew who exactly was behind this. She was surprised that Jade herself had not figured it out yet. She had volunteered to take this mission once it became clear to her who she would be dealing with. She hoped that she would be doing it alone but Black, as usual, partnered her up with the probationary agent Jaime Williams and Jaime had inadvertently summoned Jade to their aid. However, even with all the unexpected circumstances she could still face the person behind this, alone. She had gotten lucky, something she did not like to admit.

Vicky slowly opened the door with her gun leading. The room she entered was relatively small, compared to the other rooms she had seen. It was rectangular and in the middle was a man with his back to her, in the dimly lit room. It had a long curbit with multiple drawers that reached both sides of the room. A cane with an orb atop it rested on one side of the room. The man in the room was hunched over a table. There were a few streaks of grey in his blonde hair, which was tied into a ponytail. He wore a fine green suit and white collared shirt. Vicky closed the door in such a way that it would be audible enough to get his attention but not the attention of Jade who was down the hall. The old man turned around with a start. He had a magnifying scope fixed on his eye and diamond jewellery in his hands.

"Hello, Valmont." Vicky said smiling, pointing her gun at him.

"You!" Valmont said with the magnifying scope falling from his eye and the jewellery in his hands following closely.

Vicky smiled at the shock in his face. "Is that how you address the daughter you have not seen in so long? Huh, daddy?"

/

 _Jade Yang_

The White Foot gang with their new boss looked out to the smallest headquarters of the Scorpio gang from their hiding place. There were six of them, including a gagged Jaime who had been told not to remove his gag on the threat of death. They surveyed the headquarters, making note of how many Scorpios there were and all the entrances and exits of the room.

"How do you think we should proceed, Jaime?" Jade asked. When she got a muffled response, she lightly slapped him in the shoulder, "Speak up, man." She looked at him and remembered that she had him gagged. She pulled the gag down from his mouth so that he could speak.

"Thank you," Jaime said glad to be free of the gag. "Well, there seems to be two entrances, you guys can take it in a pincer movement, cutting off any escape of the Scorpios and fully utilising the element of surprise.

"I knew you would be useful to the gang. You're so smart." Jade said sounding happy. Jaime could not help but smile at the compliment. "Now you keep quiet while we do this." She said moving the gag over his mouth again, ignoring his protests. "Alright you heard the man, let's go!"

They split up into two groups, one had four members which included Jaime and Jade and the other had the rest of the White Foot. As Jaime had said, the element of surprise helped them take down a force that outnumbered them. They defeated most of the Scorpios as they moved to the centre of their base on either side.

Jade had fought savagely as she knocked Scorpios unconscious, while pulling Jaime forward by the scruff of his collar. Her group busted through the door that lead to the centre of the base where they each fought members of the Scorpios.

When Jade had finished one of her opponents off she kneeled next to him on the ground. "Listen here, I want you to run and tell your boss that the time of the Scorpios is over, the White Foot have come and we'll be attacking his main base and taking control of the Scorpios little criminal empire business." She let the man go and he ran, no doubt for his life and to deliver her threat.

When the White Foot had firmly taken control of the base she stood in the middle of the room and spoke to the vanquished Scorpio members. "We are the White Foot. We will soon rule this city and take over all the Scorpio territories. Now, you Scorpios here have two choices: you remain loyal to an uncaring gang who pays you peanuts or join the White Foot and rule the city along with us... or and of course live"

"Boss, I've found their stash of cash." A White Foot said coming out with a small duffle bag full of money.

Jade took the bag from him and gave out handfuls of money to her gang members as she spoke. "When you are a White Foot, you'll also get more money and a better share!" She said as she gave the last member of the White Foot his share of the money. "Just join the winning team."

The members of the Scorpios began getting up and declaring their allegiance to the White Foot and upon doing so they received a share of the money. And just like that, Scorpios became White Foot. When the conversions were done Jaime pulled Jade to the side and removed his gag.

"Jade, what do you think you're doing?" He said panicked. "Not only have you made yourself the leader of a criminal gang but you're also increasing their ranks and inciting a gang war?"

"Yes, it's amazing how good I am."

"Unreal!" He exclaimed. "This is not good; it's bad, its illegal, its _muffle muffle..."_ Jaime was cut off when Jade placed the gag over his mouth again. "Hey you!" Jade called to one of the original White Foot gang members. "Jaime is getting on my nerves... again. Tie him up and take him to the old base and bring some White Foot uniforms for the new converts."

"Why don't we just kill him?" The gang member said making Jaime's eyes go wide with fear.

"Are you kidding? He's our little brain box and his going to help us rule this city." She said before walking away while the White Foot gang member tied Jaime up.

Jade smiled at herself as she saw her ever increasing gang, things were coming along nicely.

/

 _Jade Ying_

Jade Ying waited patiently in the hallway. She had her senses keen and ready in case anyone came by. However no one had come by so far. She began to grow worried about Vicky as it had been quiet ever since she had enter the room where the leader of the White Foot was.

Inside the room, Vicky pointed her gun at Valmont, her father and the leader opf the White Foot gang.

"What are you doing here?" Valmont said.

"I'm here to apprehend you," she said. "I'm an Agent of Section 13 now."

Valmont laughed at that and slyly moved to the side during his mock laughter. "You? A good guy? How the apple has fallen or has it?" He said. "What are you planning, Vicky Valmont? Are you going to steal something from their vaults? Gain their trust so that you can destroy them from the inside?" He said still slowly and unnoticeably moving to the side and towards something.

"Aw, can't I just be in there to help people and stop bad guys like you?" She said in a sweet and sarcastic tone.

"Not you." Valmont said getting closer to his target.

"Well, believe what you want, dad but know that the only way you'll be leaving here alive, is in handcuffs." Vicky said.

"You do realise that if I go to prison, I'll tell everyone of your relations to me." He said still slyly moving to one of the drawers. "If I go down, I'm taking you with me." He said as he finally reached the drawer. When he reached for the handle, there was a loud _bang_ and hole appeared next his hand.

Valmont's shocked look gave Vicky glee. She had seen his sly movements as soon as he made them. She had after all learned her father's tricks a long time ago and had mastered them. She decided to let him think she was fooled and allowed him to get close to wherever he was trying to get to. When she realised that he was going for the door, she shot at it to stop him in his tracks.

"Get to the other side, old man." She gestured for him to move away from the drawer with her gun. Valmont retreated, hating the fact that he had been called 'old'. Vicky walked forward and opened the drawer and was not surprised when she saw a gun in the drawer. "Did you really think that would work? Never con a con artist." She said before looking up at Valmont who was now holding his walking cane which hadbeen located on the other side of the room.

The green orb at the end of his cane suddenly glowed. Valmont smiled, cockily at his daughter and Vicky realised that she had been tricked! All of his flase actions were made so that he could get his cane all along! "You're right, never con a con artist." He said smiling. There were four localized, small pillars of green lights. In the centre of the lights a man appeared and when the each light disappeared there stood a Valmont in it _s_ place.

These new _Valmonts_ did not look like the man in front of her. They looked like younger versions of the Valmont she was had just spoken to. They looked like her father when she was young, before he abandoned her and her mother. The four Valmont copies rushed forward at her, wielding canes. Vicky was able to get off two shots and as soon as she did, two of the Valmont copies disappeared in a yellow light. One of the copies hit her gun away from her with his cane while the other swung at her head.

"Jade!" Vicky screamed as she grabbed one of the canes of the copy. The original Valmont quickly grabbed a ski mask from a drawer and put it on before once again activating his magical artefact. Four more copies with ski masks on appeared.

As soon as Jade opened the door, four men swung at her with canes. Thanks to the surprise attack she did not defend herself and was knocked unconscious. Vicky had also been defeated and was now being pinned down by all six Valmont copies. She was on her knees and her father stood before her, taking off his ski mask and sneering, "I win."

/

 _Jade Yang_

Jade and her gang stood some distance away from the main base of the Scorpios. They all knew that there was a looming fight ahead. Once she was sure that all the Scorpios had gathered, she summoned her newly appointed second in command of the White Foot.

"Hey, we'll attack them in a pincer movement like the last time." Jade told him.

"But wouldn't it be better if we attack them all together?" He asked, sounding doubtful.

"No, there are too many of them. We need to do what we did the last time." She said giving him a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder. The second in command nodded. "Good, I'll take half of the White Foot. In fifteen minutes we'll all attack together. Remember, attack exactly fifteen minutes." He nodded before Jade disappeared amongst the gathered White Foot.

Fifteen minutes had finally passed and the second-in-command looked back at his men. He was surprised to see that there was still a lot of men by his side. It was almost as if Jade had not taken anyone for her pincer strike. "There must be more of us than I thought," he said feeling his confidence in their victory increase.

He made the men attack. The Scorpios were caught off gaurd and many of them fell but they soon got organised and fought back. The battle raged on as Scorpio fought White Foot with guns, batons and knives. It was starting to look like the White Foot were losing to the greater force of the Scorpios. The second-in-command of the White Foot began looking around desperately for Jade but he could not see her at all, nor did he see anymore White Foot join the battle. Suddenly there were some men who entered the battle and attacked the Scorpios. He had originally thought it was Jade with her half of the White Foot but was horrified when he realised that it was the police. They came onto the battle like a blue and black plague, arresting Scorpio and White Foot alike.

Jade spied on the happenings from a safe distance away. Once she was satisfied with the outcome she snuck away from her hiding place and away from the police and gangs.

/

 _Jade Ying_

Jade was dumped onto the green ground of the estate of the villain once she regained her consciousness. She was sitting on the ground. A rope wrapped around her body, tying up with her hands behind her back and her legs together. To her side was a double decker bus where men in the White Foot uniform with ski masks and canes were marching in a steady line into the bus, slowly filling it up. Before her was one of the men in the same attire.

Jade looked up at him. "These men you've created, they're not real are they? No offense meant to you or your men. I mean they're magically created."

"Yes," The man said. His voice was muffled by his ski mask and he was trying to speak with a deeper raspy voice. He stood leaning forward on his cane. "I created them with an artefact called the Multiplying Orb of Tukansi. It allows one to make copies of oneself, at any age they wish."

"But if you have the ability to create an expendable army, why would you need a gang like the White Foot? If you don't mind me asking." Jade asked.

"The Orb can only make copies of me. The copies of me only have the skills I have at the time of their creation. That means my copies can't hack into security systems; they aren't specialists in interrogating witnesses with the most painful methods that will not kill them. I still need a crew, I happen to be the brains and muscle of the crew."

"So where is the original... you." Jade asked.

"What? I'm the original." The man said sounding so insulted that his voice momentarily dropped its forced deep and raspy quality.

"Forgive me for saying but I don't believe you."

The man leaned closer to Jade who was kneeling, tied on the ground. "It doesn't matter what you think because soon, I'm going to enter that bus and once it is full I'm going to drive over you on our way out. You want to guess where we're going?" The man waited until it looked like Jade would answer before interrupting her. "We're going back to our base. We heard your agent friends have been causing quiet a ruckus, so we are going to ensure they meet a painful and violent end." He said whacking the cane in his palm before leaving Jade and getting on to the driver's seat of the bus.

Jade looked at the copies entering and knew that soon the bus would be full. She needed to act fast before they drove over her. She rolled onto her back, forcing the talisman in her pocket out and into her waiting palm. She got up to her knees again and began using the sharp, broken edge of her half of the Tiger talisman in an attempt to cut the rope binding her.

/

Vicky saw Jade tied up in the drive way. Her own hands were tied behind her back with a zip cord, a more comfortable bind than the rope winding all over Jade's body. She knew what her father had planned for her.

"You're friend is going to fail." Her father said. He had on the White Foot uniform but unlike his copies, he had taken off his mask. He had his cane with the green orb in his left hand. "I'm sure you know I've fought her and her family before, so i know alone she's no threat."

"Fought? All I've read about your encounters with the Chans is how you repeatedly lose to them. And she's not alone, she has me." Vicky said defiantly.

"Well, nonetheless when all is said and done, I'll have won. Why don't you join me?' He said offering his hand.

Vicky kicked his hand away. "Never!" She said.

Valmont smiled, "I could simply make you," he said digging in his pocket and producing something like a spray. "This is a little potion I learned to make a while ago. It allows me to erase anyones memory by simply spraying it on my target. I could erase your memory up to the point where I trained you as a teenager."

"Oh! You mean before you left me... again?"

"Come now. This is our second chance at a father and daughter relationship. With you under my wing, nothing will stop us." Valmont said as he held the spray up to her shaking face.

/

Jade Chan kept struggling to cut her ropes with the Tiger talisman as the bus began rumbling. She glanced at where she last saw Vicky. She was talking to someone but she could not see exactly who because her sight was impeded by the building. All she could see was her struggling and being held by two more magic copies it was obvious that Vicky would not save her, so she was on her own. The bus began lurching forward and she desperately sped up her efforts to cut the rope. The rope eventually cut and she untangled herself before leaping out of the way of the bus just before it ran over where she had been.

The driver and her exchanged glances as the bus drove away. She could see the hate in his eyes through the eye holes in the ski mask. She ran to where Vicky was.

Vicky saw Jade coming from the corner of her eye as her father held the amnesia portion to her face. One of his copies noticed Jade coming and shouted, "Jade's coming."

Valmont withdrew his potion from her face and Vicky saw a look of fear quickly passing on her father's face. One of the copies charged at Jade. Jade dodged the copy's swinging cane. "Excuse me!" Jade said as she disarmed him and pushed him aside without losing a step. She threw the cane she had gotten off the clone at Vicky who got free of the other henchmen, spun in the air and caught it in her hands which were tied behind her back. The copy who still had his cane tried going for her but Jade round kicked him into a yellow light.

"Jade, you have to stop the bus from getting to Jaime." Vicky desperately said to stop her from walking forward and seeing her father. Vicky broke the orb on the cane against a pillar and used the resultant jaggered edges to cut the zip cord. Once free she used the cane as a weapon to throw at the copy she had disarmed. The copy disappeared in a bright yellow light as soon as the sharp orb of the cane impaled him. "Go, please!" to her surprise, Jade compiled without so much as an argument and ran after the bus.

Vicky looked at her father who made a copy but she quickly kicked it in the head causing it to disappear. Her father began running away while creating more copies in his wake. Vicky tried to dodge them and fight them off but they were becoming too much and had to take a detour through the house to get to his father.

Jade ran outside and saw the bus far away. She saw the Harley they had come in and used it to chase the double decker bus full of copies.

/

 _Jade Yang_

Jaime sat on the hard floor of the factory that used to be the base of the White Foot. He was tied to a pole and had given up on escaping a long time ago. The doors open, sending in a stream of light that temporarily blinded him. In walked Jade. Upon seeing her he began to struggle and mumble louder.

"Calm down, Jaime!" She said before freeing him.

Jaime got onto his feet quickly and awkwardly held his hands up in two fists.

"What are you doing?" She asked with her hands lazily on her hips.

"I'm going to stop you! You have gone rogue!" He said before he began bouncing around like a badly coordinated boxer. "I'm not going to allow you to help the White Foot."

"The White Foot are in prison."

"What?" He said stopping his bouncing but keeping his hands in the air.

"It was all a trap, Jaime. I wasn't really interested in becoming their leader, or at least not after I saw how pathetic they were. So, I made a plan to take not only them down but also the Scorpios. I suspect both members of the gang are being charged with multiple crimes as we speak."

"You... you planned it all?" He said dumbfounded.

"Here," Jade threw him his gun, which he fumbled before dropping on the floor.

When he picked it up he exclaimed, "My gun?"

"Yes. if you're going to use it, make sure you can actually shoot it?" Jade said in an annoyed tone. They suddenly heard the sound of a motorbike coming their way.

They looked at the door expectantly before a bike crashed through it and stopped a few feet away from them. Jaime was already pointing his gun at the newcomer and Jade stood in a fighting stance. The owner of the Harley removed her helmet to reveal a very familiar face.

"Jade!" Jaime said lowering his gun. He looked at the Jade beside him, "Jade?" He took off his glasses and wiped them with his shirt before placing them back on.

"More of the White Foot are coming!" The new Jade said desperately to her sister and Jaime.

"There are two Jades! Unreal!" Jaime said.

"How many of them?" Jade Yang asked.

"A lot." As she said that the double decker bus stopped right in front of the factory, blocking the exit and a bunch of men in White Foot uniforms and ski masks ran out at them.

Jade Yang shoved Jade Ying off the bike and got on herself. "I'll take care of them!" She said before doing a wheelie towards them. Those who were hit by the bike went flying before disappearing in a bright yellow light in the air.

However, some got past the motorbike and attacked Jaime and Jade. Jade fought them in using her martial arts while Jaime began shot at them. Although Jade Yang had taken many of them out with the bike, they eventually overwhelmed her, causing her bike to fall. They got on top to beat at her with their batons, surrounding her on all sides. She got up from the fallen bike and began fighting them off. The battle was three against a double decker bus.

/

Vicky ran into the kitchen. She saw a box knife set and took it under her arm. The first copies came running after her and she used one of the blades from the set to cut them to nothingness. When there was a short break in more copies coming in she ran out of the kitchen and deeper into the mansion. She saw her father running through the big house and he looked at her. She threw a knife at him and he summoned a copy in front of him just in time to protect him and take the knife throw.

More copies came from behind her and she withdrew another knife from the box under her arm and cut them down before resuming the chase after Valmont.

/

Jade Ying was being forced on the stairs as she staved off the attack of the copies. She kept retreating back up the stairs as she blocked, disarmed and dodged. She eventually reached the top part where she continued to be forced back.

Jade Yang stood in the middle of fighting men. She refused to give the copies any ground as she punched, kicked and grappled them. She eventually began to tire and hurt, as she fought with all the anger she could muster.

Jaime shot a volley of bullets and it was impossible to miss anyone. Everytime he pulled the trigger there was a bright light or two telling him that he had vanquished another enemy. He looked to the Jades to see how they were doing. His keen mind saw that neither of them fought the way Jade Chan usually fought. He saw that the Jade on the balcony above him was being too passive in her fighting: she blocked and dodged but rarely threw a punch even when her opponents had left obvious openings. And they were obvious if he could see them. He looked at the Jade Chan on the ground floor a little distance away from him. Her fighting, on the other hand, was too aggressive: she vanquished more enemies but she hardly ever blocked, meaning she got many hits from the copies. Her efforts would be meaningless if she did not live to walk tomorrow. One Jade would eventually be overwhelmed by her enemies and the other would simply be beaten to submission.

"Jades!" He shouted over the commotion. "You two are not going to last long if you don't change your fighting styles or start working together!" He shouted as he shot two more copies.

"I'm not working with that weakling!" Jade Yang said before she was hit over the head with a cane and she retaliated by kicking the copy who had hit her in the head, making it disappear.

"And I will not partner up with such a savage fighter!" The other Jade said before one of the copies got through her defences and kicked her in the gut.

"If you guys don't..." he began before the gun he was using ran out of bullets and the depressing _click click_ sound made itself apparent. "...you'll die." He completed before throwing his gun at one of the copies then putting his hands up before the copies rushed forward causing his body to disappear under their mass.

Both Jades saw Jaime disappear under the bodies of copies. Their eyes met for a moment and that is when they knew the truth. As individuals they had less of a chance to save themselves or Jaime but as one, they had better chances. They simultaneously took out their halves of the Tiger talisman. Jade Yang began running towards her sister. She elbowed through a few of the copies before stepping on other magic copies as she tried to get higher and closer to her sister. Jade Ying blocked a few more attacks and moved in between the copies before forcing herself to the balcony railing. She jumped over the balcony railing towards the ground. Both Jades were now in midair, heading towards each other. Both stretched out their respective talisman halves and when they combined, there was a bright flash of white light that engulfed them both. When the light had receded we stood there, she stood there, I stood there: Jade Chan.

/

I was back and I must admit it felt good. Gravity reminded me that its laws had not changed while I was away and began pulling me down. In my fall I aimed to drop on the copy bodies that covered Jaime. I began to spin and I crashed into the mass of copy bodies like a spinning meteor, some copies instantly disappeared upon my landing. I had made sure that I landed on my hands and kept my spinning momentum as my legs went round and round with me, like blades of a fan. All the copies kicked by my spinning legs disappeared in a yellow flash.

Once I had created some distance between the copies and I, I stopped spinning and got on my feet. "Are you okay, Jaime?"

Jaime got up slowly, now that he was not being held and beaten by the copies. "I'll be okay." He said with his horn rimmed glasses cracked and a few bruises on his face and body.

I felt anger bubble up when I saw him in his condition. I would get revenge for him. "You'll pay for hurting my friend... Valmont."

There was silence as no one moved but then all the copies took off their masks to reveal the same green eyes and blonde hair and fair skin."How did you know?" Half of the Valmont copies said while the other half laughed.

"It became obvious...!" Jade shouted to keep get the laughing copies to quiet down. "when I pieced myself together I also pieced together your identity. It became more obvious when I experienced your clumsy cane fighting first hand; when I saw the predictable things you stole; the amnesia potion you used on the witnesses and your own gang members, which you used on a friend of mine a while back and the pathetic attempt at hiding your voice when you spoke to me back at that estate."

The mood of the copies changed to anger.

"The original you is still back at the mansion with Vicky, isn't he?" Jade said taking a fighting stance.

The copies took a ready stance. "You figured it out but it's too late. You will die with your knowledge!" The copies said simultaneously. There was silence again and it seemed time stopped. Then suddenly the copies surged forward and so did Jade.

/

Vicky climbed up a flight of stairs, stabbing at the copies descending. A few knives were lost while she walked up but all she had to do was take another out of the knife box set under her arm She was able to get at the end of the stairs and kicked the door to her immediate left open. As she expected Valmont had two copies waiting for her and they swung at where she would have been if she had not jumped back as soon as she kicked open the door. She quickly took advantage of the element of surprise and stabbed at the clones. During the scuffle she lost her knife but the copies had been defeated. She walked onto the roof, where there was a large oval pool and a few poolside chairs in bright bubblegum colours.

She and Valmont came face to face. She withdrew the last knife from the wooden box and let the empty box fall from under her arms to the floor. She held out the medium sized knife. Valmont saw the knife glint in the sunlight but he focused on his daughter's heavy breathing and tired expression. He relaxed as he sat down on a pink poolside chair.

"Give up, Vicky." He said relaxing in the chair. "You can't win."

"That doesn't mean I can't try!" Vicky said defiantly.

Valmont made more copies and she rushed to meet them before they knew what was going on. She slit one throat and dodged a cane swing from another and stabbed it in the back but another kicked her in her stomach. She doubled over in pain before another hit the knife away, causing it to land at the edge of the crystal blue swimming pool. She dropped to her knees and punched Valmont copy in the groin before pushing him in the pool where it let off a yellow light that illuminated the water momentarily. She jumped for the knife and when she got it, pushed it into the stomach of the next copy that came at her, causing it to flash into nothingness. She got on her feet again and pointed the knife at her father who was still relaxed on the chair.

Valmont sighed. "I don't exactly know why you have joined Section 13 but I don't like this 'lack of self preservation attitude' they've instilled in you."

"Maybe Section 13 didn't do anything to me. Maybe I hate you enough to risk my life so that I can see you fail." She said out of breath.

Valmont sighed again as the orb on his cane glowed to summon more copies...

/

I was surrounded on all sides but I more than held my own. I was holding nothing back as I struck at throats, broke necks, snapped spines. Uncle Jackie's words about self control and restrain went out of the window as all I saw were multiple enemies coming at me. I was becoming unhinged and as much as I hate to admit it, I loved it!

I was no fool. I knew if something did not change soon, I would eventually be beaten. My arms began to burn, my legs became heavier. I had hoped that there would be some way to escape but the Valmont copies ensured that they kept Jaime and I cut off from all exits. It looked like I would have to kill them all!

/

The copies began appearing and Vicky threw her knife desperately. The knife sliced through the air before embedding itself in Valmont's forearm. He dropped the knife as he moaned in pain and the pillars of lights disappeared with no copies. Thinking on her feet, she ran for the cane. Valmont saw her coming and dove off his chair to the cane. He touched it and a hundred pillars of yellow lights appeared all over the roof. Vicky went for a baseball slide and kicked Valmont in the face while securing the cane with the magic orb.

She pointed the orb part of the cane to the tiled floor in a stabbing grip. Valmont and his newly created copies saw her and got scared. "Please, don't do this." The original said a little away from her. "Just give me the cane. It's not too late for us to have a relationship. We could be strong together, Vee Vee."

Vicky seemed to agree as she made a move to offer the cane back to her father. He smiled and reached out for it but then she pulled it away from him. "I don't want to be powerful... with you." She said before stabbing the orb to the ground, causing it to break and all the copies disappeared in a flash of multiple yellow lights.

/

I lazily punched one copy in the face and it disappeared and I lazily punched another. I was now going on fumes as exhaustion slowly took over. I was soaked in sweat and the enjoyment of destroying these copies had disappeared along with my adrenaline. I was about to punch another copy when it disappeared on its own. More of the copies exploded into flashes of yellow light. When all that was left in the room was Jaime and I, I let myself sink to my knees in exhaustion.

"No time to rest. We still have to save Vicky." Jaime said putting his hand on my shoulder.

"Jaime, that doesn't motivate me a bit." I said as I force myself off the floor to help someone I don't like that much.

/

"Well, I guess that ends that." Valmont said as he got up and began walking away.

"Hey, you're not going anywhere. I'm arresting you." Vicky said.

"Oh please, Vicky. We both know you aren't going to do anything of the sort because if I end up in prison, I'll sing about your connections to me. So don't fool yourse..." Valmont's legs were swept from under him, making him fall to the side.

Vicky made him face up before she straddled him, pinning him down her body.

"What are you doing?" Valmont said.

"You're right... about the singing thing. That's why I'm going to use this." She said producing his amnesia portion at him.

"How... how did..." Valmont realised that she had pickpocket the potion from him. "Let's not be too hasty now."

"I'm interested in doing a little experiment, daddy." Vicky said popping off the spray cap off the bottle with her thumb. "Nature vs. Nurture. If I hollow you out, to the extent that you don't even remember your own name, will you still be the same despicable man?"

"Please Vee Vee, don't do this." He begged.

"Too late." She said as she tipped the bottle over and emptied its contents on his face and just like that, she had erased all his memories.

/

I saw as they led Valmont away into a van. He was obviously no danger to anyone as he did not even remember his own name. It must be a very confusing and scary time for him.

"...so while running away from you, he tripped and silt the amnesia potion on his face?" I asked Vicky with a sceptic tone.

"Yes," Vicky said, confidently.

"It is very likely." Jaime said.

"I know it's likely, I'm just questioning if it's believable." I said folding my arms while narrowing my eyes at Vicky. She was hiding something, if only I knew what.

All three of us looked awful. We were bruised and tired.

"I need to fetch my replacement glasses. Excuse me." Jaime said. He walked off to collect his other pair of glasses, leaving me with Vicky.

"What you did was wrong, Vicky." I said as soon as Jaime was out of earshot. "I'm going to report the fact that you left a probationary agent under your care alone in a dangerous situation."

"I guess that's your choice." She said smiling. "But know that if you report me, I will report you."

The shock I felt was probably evident because she smiled. "Report me for what?"

"Oh, come on Jade. I saw how weird you were acting when we were together. It was obvious why you were acting so strangely. If you report me, I'll report you and I doubt a recently promoted full agent like you could recover from this."

She had not said my offense by name so I was not sure if she was playing me or not. Did she know that I placed the mission in jeopardy by obtaining and using the Tiger talisman unauthorised? Or was she just bluffing? I was about to inquire some more when she cut me off.

"I won't say anything but... you'll have to do the paper work for this mission. Make me look good in it." She said before walking away before I could speak further.

I resisted the urge to groan because I didn't want to give her the satisfaction. I guess I would not find out if she was bluffing or not but I'll do the paperwork just in case she is not. As I watched her walking to Jaime I could not help think about how much I disliked her. She had had the last word this time but next time it would be different.


	4. Ambassador of the Muntabs

**Chapter 4 Abstract** (What's the difference between a ghost and this section? A ghost _exists_. So skip this abstract)

Jade Chan is a young woman who is a skilled fighter. As an Agent of Section 13 and with her ties to the world of magic, her life is far from normal. These are her adventures.

Jade Chan is woken in the middle of the night by a very very old friend. This friend has secret that everyone would kill for and its up to Jade to help her friend keep this secret safe while introducing this village person to the city life.

* * *

 **Ambassador of the Muntabs**

I was slowly brought out of my dreamless sleep by an insistent _knock knock knock_ on my door. I groaned as I did not want to be woken up. I reached for the night stand beside my bed and instead fell forward onto the ground on my face. My eyes flew open as I rubbed my head in confusion. Why had I fallen to the ground? I looked around and noticed that I was on the living room couch instead of in my bed. I must have fallen asleep while watching television. The couch I had been sleeping on was behind me and in front of me was a coffee table and my small television set which was still on.

"I slept on the couch again." I groaned, switching the television off.

The knocking continued. I sighed before getting up to look at the time. It was 2 in the morning! Who comes around at 2 in the morning?! There had better be a fire or some emergency or someone is going to get a kick in the head. The knock began again as I wandered through the living room towards the door.

"I'm coming." I groaned. I was modest enough to answer the door because I was not in my sleeping clothes. I had on a white, sleeveless vest and maroon sweat pants, not exactly glamorous but good enough to open the door and kick someone in the head.

I opened the door and saw a woman standing there. She was slightly taller than me, had dark ebony skin and was thin, not unhealthily thin but noticeably thin. Her black hair stood straight up in an afro and she wore a beautiful green dress with orange patterns. Her smile showed off her brilliant teeth but I was wondering was why she was smiling at me like she knew me. I did not know who this girl is.

She lunged forward at me and I almost instinctively kicked her... in the head but she did not look dangerous enough to cause her any harm. The girl hugged me, which surprised me, which was evident as I did not move.

She separated from me, "It is good to see you again, Sister Jade."

"Who are you?" I asked, sounding as neutral as possible.

"It's me, Anita."

"I'm sorry, I don't know a Anita."

Anita titled her head quizzically but she never lost her smile. "Remember, you and your Uncle Jackie visited my tribe, the Muntabs in Africa?"

I looked down, mentally going through all the adventures I had with Uncle Jackie in Africa. My eyes went wide with the recollection of The Muntabs. They were a tribe of people who were eternally youthful because they had a magical chalice in their possession. Water from the chalice becomes blessed and whoever drinks will have their aging stopped and reversed. I remembered making a friend called Anita when I was there as a little girl.

"Anita? That's impossible. The Anita I know is 200 year old girl who looks ten."

"And now, Sister Jade, I am a 200 year old girl who looks... hmm," Anita said looking closely at me, as if studying me. "...slightly younger than you."

I had to laugh at that. "Anita! It's good to see you!" I said, happily. "Please, come in!"

"Thank you. May I bring in my things?"

I looked at the big bag and small bag she had. "Of course." I said helping her with the big bag. I pulled the heavy bag behind me while Anita admired my apartment form the inside. "What do you have in here, rocks?"

"Water actually." Anita said smiling back at me.

"Of course. Water from the Magic Chalice, I'm guessing."

Anita nodded.

"I'll put this somewhere safe. In the meantime, make yourself at home." I said as I dragged the bag where it would be safe. I came back a little later to find Anita wondering around my small living room, admiring everything.

"Wow, Jade. You have some of the most exotic things in your home!" She said admiring a lamp.

I flopped down on the couch I had been sleeping in earlier. "To be honest, Anita, you're the most exotic thing in this stinking apartment."

Anita sat next to me. Admiring the lamp some more.

"So... you've grown up." I said.

"So have you, Sister Jade."

"Yeah, but I mean... I never thought I'd see you any older than ten, let alone this far away from your village."

"Yes." Anita said losing her smile for the first time. "The outside world is getting ever bigger and needs even more space to accommodate its growth. Meaning the world is moving ever closer into our secret territories and closer to discovering us."

"Oh! I'm sorry. What does that mean for the Muntabs?"

"We don't know yet. That is why I'm here. The Muntabs have sent out three ambassadors to go out into the outside world and figure out how we, The Muntabs, can safely integrate with it."

"And you're one of these ambassadors?"

Anita nodded, returning her smile back to her face. "I was allowed to grow out into this body for my task."

"And how do you like your new body?" I said with a sly smile.

Anita looked at her hands and clenched them and opened them again. "This body has introduced me to a wider range of… womanhood. Which comes with new parts that a ten year old does not have and new experiences, some welcomed and others not so much."

"I feel that, sister!" I said.

"Speaking of bodies, I have a gift for you." Anita said taking her small bag. She produced an orange dress with a jade scaly dragon rapping around its waste which complimented the jade patterns near the collar. It was an African dress with its bright use of colours and patterns but it had a Chineese touch to it. It came with a simple head scarf.

I lifted the beautiful dress in the air as I inspected it. "Oh... thank you."

Anita frowned at hearing the tone of my response. "You don't like it, I'm sorry..."

"No no no, I love it. It's beautiful and thoughtful, it's just that... I'm more of a jeans and hoodie kind of girl. But it is beautiful."

Anita smiled, "Glad to hear it! I thought of you while making it. I did not know your size so I had to do a lot of guessing."

"It seems you did a good job." I said carefully folding the dress. I eyed the bag which the dress came from. "You only have two bags: the water bag and this one. Is the small bag where you keep all your clothes?"

Anita nodded.

"How many items of clothing do you have."

"Including the dress I'm wearing now, three dresses."

"And how long are you going to be in the outside world?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe a little over a year."

"You're going to be staying here for over a year and you only have three or so items of clothing?" I said outraged. "That won't do at all. We'll go shopping with a friend of mine and get you some new clothes." I said getting up and yawning. "I'll crash on the couch. You can sleep in my bed. And no exceptions!" I added when Anita looked like she was about to protest.

/

The next day quickly came by. Anita and I woke early and got out into the street. We were going to meet another childhood friend of mine who I recently reconnected with. Her name was Emily. We agreed to meet at a power yoga class she attends almost every morning. This meant that I had to borrow her some clothes for the yoga class. We took a taxi and had to walk the rest of the way. Anita could not help look around like a tourist.

"The city, huh? Different from the village you came from." I said noticing her.

"Very different. Bigger buildings, more people and less wild hogs." She said. "But the air is..."

"Polluted?"

"Yes. It's slightly disturbing."

"You'll get used to it." I said as we took a right turn.

"I am not sure that I want to get used to it. I am not sure if anyone should get used to it." Anita said.

"I guess it's the price of progress." I said as we reached the power yoga studio.

We entered the building. Emily was waiting for us as she sat on the floor. Her ginger hair was tied in a tight bun and her green eyes smiled at us when she saw us enter. She got up and hugged me, "Jade! Glad you could come! You must be Anita! I'm Emily."

"Nice to meet you, Emily." Anita said, shaking Emily's hand.

"That's an interesting accent you have there, Anita. Where are you from?"

I was slightly worried about the question. The Muntabs needed to remain secret for as long as they could. I was about to speak up but Anita showed that she could handle it herself. "I come from the Republic of Central Africa." She answered.

Smart, I thought to myself. The Muntabs were located near the country of the Republic of Central Africa. The yoga instructor came in and we began our session.

/

A few hours after the training session was done, we walked out of the studio, heading for Emily's car.

"Great training session, huh girls!" Emily said before taking a drink from her bottled water before wiping the sweat from her brow.

Anita moaned while rubbing her tired arms, "That was worse than Katlego's spear training class." She looked at me, "You don't even look tired." Anita said to me.

"Oh, I am tired." I lied. It was good but I have placed myself through worse physical exercise in the Section 13 gym.

"I heard you are in desperate need of clothes, Anita." Emily said. When Anita nodded, Emily jumped up in the air excitedly. "Yay! We can make this a girls' day out! We exercise in the morning, shop in the afternoon and party in the night!"

"What? Wait, I..." I began to protest but Emily grabbed both my and Anita's hand and rushed us to the car, leaving a trail of dust behind us.

/

In our shopping spree we went from shop to shop in the city. I provided the cash for Anita's clothes, while Emily helped us pick out clothes for her. We each modelled multiple outfits to each other and judged whether they looked good on us or not. Hours and I mean hours later we were done and exhausted as we walked through the city with multiple shopping bags hanging from our arms.

We sat on a bench with a huff and sigh.

"Who knew that shopping could be so exhausting?" Anita said.

"Emily is a professional shopper." I said. "When you shop with her, you have fun but prepare to get aches in your legs."

"You guys kept up pretty well," Emily said smiling. "Anita, your love for bright colours is refreshing. Everyone these days are so gloomy with their greys and blacks... or for some people their oranges."

I smiled as Emily looked at me with a mischievous smile. "I'll have you know that I look good in orange, or so I've been told."

"No matter. Now that the shopping is done we can prepare for our night of clubbing!" Emily said bouncing on her seat in mock dancing.

Anita looked a little worried. "Don't worry," I assured her, "you'll get used to her."

/

The sun travelled across the sky and went into the horizon, welcoming the starry evening. Emily drove them to club central, a part of the city that boasted a vibrant party night. The city's night life was anything but dead. Music from different places drifted onto the streets. There were people everywhere, walking about and excitedly talking to each other. I was walking in between Anita and Emily, in my all white pants and shirt. Emily had on a blue dress with a few shiny rocks at the waist while Anita had on a yellow Sunday dress, that was snug at the torso and widened out past her hips.

Emily met with someone to ask where a certain club that she had heard about was, which gave Anita and I time to have a quick private conversation.

"So I haven't seen you take your... _water_ yet." I said.

"Ah, yes. I take 250ml water at sunrise everyday after saying a short prayer of thanks." Anita said.

"And if you miss a day?"

"I begin to rapidly age into my true age. But I carry a full bottle with me always in case I need to drink." Anita said patting her newly bought handbag.

When Emily was done with her conversation, we began walking to a popular nightclub. We reached the club which was just across the street. I did not notice Anita stay behind while Emily and I began crossing the street.

"Hey, where's Anita?" Emily suddenly stopped in the middle of the street. I looked back and saw Anita back on the other side with her back turned to us. We began to walk back to her.

She was talking to some dirty old man sitting against the wall on the floor. It was obvious that he was a hobo. I would not be surprised if he was the king of hobos. "Anita?" I called to her slightly concerned.

Anita looked at us, "Oh, I'm sorry. I was talking to Bernard here." She said before giving patting the man on the shoulder. The man suddenly reached out and grabbed her arm.

The move was so quick and seemed so violent that Emily and I rushed forward. "Hey, leave our friend!" Emily said.

The old man did not let Anita go. Instead, it seemed that his long unkempt nails dug deeper into Anita's arm. Unlike Emily, I would not give him just a verbal warning. My fist was already speeding towards his grimy face. My knuckles stopped inches from his flinching face when Anita shouted, "stop!" I admit, I was reluctant because I thought the old man was hurting my friend but I did it anyways. "Honestly, why would you guys do that?" Anita scolded us as I withdrew my fist.

The hobo looked on Anita with grateful, blue eyes. Anita leaned in closer and offered him her ear. He craned his neck and from his dried, cracked lips he uttered the words, "thank you."

Anita gave him a confused smile. "I did not really do anything but you're welcome."

The man let go of Anita and we began to walk with her, Emily and I flanking her protectively.

"Do you usually speak to homeless people?" Emily said looking through her purse.

"I... don't know." Anita answered.

"I thought he was going to hurt you." I said.

"He wouldn't have... I think. But he does have quite a grip." Anita said rubbing her arm where the man had held her.

"Speaking of grip..." Emily said taking out a wipe from her purse and fussily wiping Anita's arm where the old man had tightly grabbed her. I could not help but giggle when Emily was mothering Anita, considering Anita is at least a hundred years older than her. "Why did he thank you? Did you give him any money?" Emily asked.

"No, I just saw him sitting there so I greeted him and asked him if he was okay. He told me most people just ignored him. I think all he needed was some attention."

There was the sound of commotion happening behind us. The three of us turned our heads to see two men forcefully removing the homeless man Anita was just talking to. Anita ran to him and Emily and I followed closely behind.

"We told you old man. You're making this place look bad, so get out of here!" One man said holding the homeless man by his clothes. The man had on a black suite, was bald and tall. Except for how well developed his muscles seemed to be, he would have made a good basketball player. His skin tone was as dark as Anita's. Beside the man was a guy shorter than his companion. His hair was jelled up in curved spikes and he had a fair skin tone. He too had a suite like his taller friend who was man handling the homeless man.

"Leave him alone!" Anita shouted trying to get in between them and the homeless man.

"Stay out of this!" The man in black suite, holding the homeless man said shoving Anita roughly away. Anita stumbled back about to fall when Emily caught her from behind.

"You okay?" She asked Anita.

Anita nodded. I looked at the man who had shoved her; he was still roughly handling the old man by shaking him up. I marched forward and when I was close enough, I shot my leg up and kicked the man in the black suite under his arms, at his elbows, forcing him to let the homeless man go as his arms vibrated from my kick. I retracted my leg but not to the ground, instead I withdrew it high, with my knee close to my stomach in preparation for my next kick. My foot shot out in a thrusting kick to the side, which caught the man in the black suite in the stomach, forcing him back into his shorter friend. I swivelled around to face them, simultaneously placing myself between them and the homeless man. Each of the girls came to flank me.

"What the...?" The man said before he realised what had just happened. He instinctively rushed forward at me with his fists raised but his friend held him back.

"Relax man. You don't want to beat up a girl do you?" His friend said, holding back his taller friend.

The man lowered his fists and smiled at me while talking to his friend. "You're right." He began moving off, "count yourself lucky, little lady. If it wasn't for my friend, you'd be wishing this night had never happened."

"You count yourself lucky!" I said through gritted teeth. Our eyes were locked on each other as he passed by me; neither of us even blinked as neither of us were willing showing any fear or any signs of backing down.

When they were some distance away the shorter man shouted back at us, "You better not be here when we come back old man!" The threat was made to anger us too. I clenched my fists tighter. I really hated bullies and anyone who would hurt my friends and family. I hated the fact that I did not teach those two a lesson they desperately deserved.

I looked at Anita and Emily. They were both talking to the homeless man and I believe I saw Emily give the man some money before patting him on the back, soothingly. He said his thank yous again and left us.

We watched him as he left. "That old man is not so bad." Emily said.

"Yeah, too bad we can't say the same for those guys." I looked Anita who was beside me. "I'm sorry, Anita. You must not be getting a good impression of the outside world and we aren't helping."

Anita flashed me a smile. "Do not worry, Jade. When I first came here, I was overwhelmed by all the bad things people did to each other but I remembered an old proverb of my village: _The good little things are the same as the big bad things_. Well, it does sound more elegant in my home language."

"I don't get it." Emily said.

"Sometimes, we see all the bad things that happen in the world and in our lives and we ignore the good things. One horrible event takes place and we begin to ignore all the little good things around us."

"Hmm... what was the good thing that happened now? All I saw were two jerks bullying a homeless man and I met someone in desperate need of a butt whipping... administered by me." I said pointing at myself with her thumb.

"Yes but you fail to see that you acted as protectors to a defenceless man, who a moment ago you acted as his aggressors. I think that's pretty big. And you've also deepened the bond between us by defending each other... well defending me but still, thank you Sister Jade, thank you Sister Emily."

"Sister Emily?" Emily asked.

"It's a title given to any woman, blood related or not that she has deep respect and loyalty to." I explained to Emily. I smiled as it meant that Anita had accepted Emily and now the three were all true friends.

"Awe! I've always wanted a sister." Emily said hugging Anita with one arm while they made their way across the street to the club.

/

They were sitting at a silver round table in the banging club. Dance music was being played and lights of a multitude of colours rained down from the ceiling. The girls had multicoloured drinks in front of them as they spoke excitedly.

"Oooh! I think someone is checking you out, Anita!" Emily said.

Anita and I followed Emily's line of sight to see a boy who gave her a cool guy nod, which made Anita quickly looking away in shyness. I continued looking at him, analysing him. He was tall, with diamond earrings in both ears. He had short black hair that had a dyed white stripe of hair running from the front to the back where it seemed like it disappeared into his ebony skin.

"Oooooooooh! His coming over. His probably going to ask you to dance!" Emily said.

This only caused Anita to look down, feeling more shyness.

"'Elo' loves," the man said smiling at us. "My name is D-Zee."

"Hello," we all said. He spoke with a deep British accent.

"Elo', lovely," he said looking at Anita specifically. "I was wondering if you wanted to dance?"

"I've never really danced to this music." Anita said, not daring to look at him in the eyes.

"Then I'll show you how," he said offering her his hand with a gold ring in his index finger.

She looked up at us for direction and I shook my head while Emily nodded. She looked up at the boy's face and smiled before taking his hand and allowing him to lead her to the dancefloor.

"Isn't that cute!" Emily said as she saw them dancing.

"I don't know; I don't think his right for her." I said.

"Oh, stop it, mother hen." Emily said before taking my hand. "Come, I want to spy on them."

"Wait, what?"I said. "I don't want to..." Emily dragged me to the dance floor before I could protest fully.

Emily and I danced some distance away from them, making sure we were not seen, a task made hard by Emily's made up ginger hair, bouncing in the dark. Anita and the boy suddenly began walking to the wall of the club, led by Anita and we followed. They stopped at a giant vase, which was a little bigger than a normal person. In the vase were giant artificial flowers with brown stems and glass shaped like open rose buds. Anita looked up at the flowers in wonder.

"Wow, they are so beautiful!" She said, with her back turned on the boy. Light shone through the transparent buds of the flowers and rainbow dots rained down on her face.

"Na' as beautiful as you," D-Zee said turning Anita around. Anita leaned against the vase while D-Zee came closer to her until their faces were inches apart. They kissed as their bodies were coloured in dotted rainbow light from the glass buds.

/

We had decided to call it a night. D-Zee and Anita had exchanged numbers, which just meant that he gave her his numbers and she gave him mine, since she did not have mobile phone as of yet. On our way out of the club Anita realised something. Her handbag was missing! We later found out that Emily's phone and my purse had also disappeared too. It seems the club was for a good time and thievery.

We looked at where we had sat for our belongings but we found nothing so we decided that it was very unlikely that we would see our items again. Anita was very sad that she had lost her handbag and Emily noticed this as we walked back to her car.

"Don't worry, Anita." Emily said patting her on the back gently. "We can always replace the bag."

"Thank you, Sister Emily." Anita said, smiling weakly.

Emily smiled back before walking ahead to the car.

"Hey, don't worry about it too much." I said, also trying to comfort her.

"You don't understand, Sister Jade." She said in a whisper. "My blessed water of youth was in that bag... a whole bottle."

I remembered that she carried a bottle of the magical water wherever she went. "Oh, I'm sorry."

"I am the worst Ambassador of all." She scolded herself. "If anyone drinks it... if anyone figures out my secret..."

"Don't worry." I assured her. "No one's going to drink a bottle of stolen water. They'll probably throw it away."

/

The club had closed and all employees of the club had gathered, waiting for their boss. The barmen, had counted the money they made for that night; the DJ was packing away the club's equipment; the waitresses cleaned the desks off with blue clothes and the thieves had placed their ill-gotten gains on the bar counter. The club made extra money by stealing form its patriots. It would lure the rich in and take something of value. Among the thieves were D-Zee and his friends. They had worked together to steal from the three girls who had visited the club. D-Zee distracted them, while his friends pick pocketed them. D-Zee could not stop looking at the card where Anita had written her number on. Even though he stole from her, he did like her and wanted to see her again.

The employees heard the footsteps of their boss coming closer from the winding stairs of the club. They all stood up to attention. Their boss was a tall woman with an hourglass shaped body. She had on a green dress that matched her long green hair. She had fair skin and rosy cheeks and was beautiful and would often boast to her employees about how more beautiful she was when she was younger and working as a professional model.

She smiled at her employees and spoke to them in a slightly raspy voice. "Okay, ladies, you know what to do: barmen put the money in the bag so I can take it to the safe," she said throwing one of the barmen a white bag. "Waitresses, keep cleaning up, I want this bar spotless by tomorrow." She said as she walked to the counter and poured herself a drink. "Now for my favourite children, what do you have for me today?" She cooed as she leaned on the bar counter to the assembled thieves on the other side.

The thieves emptied out their contents, including D-Zee. She happily added golden watches, fancy handbags, car keys, with the cars stolen parked at the clubs secret parking lot and cold hard cash to a black bag. "I'm disappointed D-Zee, your haul is not what it normally is." The club owner said searching through a handbag produced by the thief after she added Jade's purse to the black bag.

"Sorry, Ms Mores." He said.

"Oh well, I guess you can't be perfect every night." She said eating peanuts off a dish placed on the bar counter. The peanuts made her thirsty and she saw the bottle of water that she had withdrew from the handbag D-Zee had stolen. She opened it and took a big gulp. Ms Mores collected the black bag along with the bottle of water and went to her office with a barman following her with the white bag of money.

In her office she threw the now empty bottle of water in her small trash can after she had drained it and the barman left the white bag and left her alone. She opened the safe and stuffed the black and white bags in there. She sat at her desk and lit a cigarette while fishing for her make-up mirror in one of the desk drawers. When she saw her face, she dropped the mirror in shock. She got up and ran to another mirror on the far side of the wall and saw her younger and more beautiful face!

"I'm young again!" She happily said touching her youthful skin. Her soft silky voice had also returned, it was like the side effects of all the years of smoking had disappeared. It was true she was young again!

/

I watched as Anita kneeled outside, just a few steps away from the front door of my apartment. She poured half of the magic water from a water bottle on something that I guess could be considered a shallow bowl. When the wooden bowl was filled nearly to the brim, she said something in her native tongue, which I did not understand, and slowly raised the bowl to her lips without spilling a drop. As she tipped the contents of the bowl into her mouth, the sun began rising from the horizon, framing her kneeling feature and colouring the air with a magnificent yellow and orange.

After the ritual she got up and headed back to the apartment, where I was leaning against the door frame watching her. I smiled at her and she smiled back, carrying the almost flat wooden bowl and the half bottle of special water.

"What were you saying?" I asked curious about her prayer.

"It was a prayer which basically means:

 _Great One and the brothers and sisters with you_

 _See me and hear my words_

 _I thank you for the flowing life you give_

 _And I humbly take it unto myself_

And after I drink, I say:

 _May life flow in me as long as I will it and as long as the sun rises_

 _And may I be worthy of it so long as it does"_

She seemed to hesitate at the last part."What's wrong?" I asked.

"I don't feel _worthy_ of the gift, especially since last night." She said.

I sighed and placed my arm around her shoulders as I led her into the apartment. "You worry too much, Anita. Everything will be okay."

When we were inside I collected a rubberband and tied my hair back into a ponytail, leaving two strands to hang down on either side of my forehead. "I need to go to... work. I'll see you later." I said and she bid me farewell.

/

Marylyn Mores woke up late into the afternoon. She had taken a hundred selfies late into the night after discovering her miraculous youthful beauty having returned to her. She had even ordered her henchmen to get her a selfie stick at two o' clock in the morning, which proved to be a difficult task only accomplished after a few housebreakings, muggings and liberating someone else of their selfie stick.

She got up and went to her bathroom to admire herself once again and upon reaching the mirror she released an ear splitting scream that echoed throughout the apartment building. Two of her henchmen barged into the house into her bathroom with guns drawn. They were the same guys that had an incident with Jade the previous night. "Ms. Mores, are you..." The smaller of the two began.

"Get out!" She screamed so loud that mirrors almost cracked.

The two oafs stumbled out to leave her alone. She looked at herself and saw that her youth was disappearing. Last night, she slept looking like a twenty year old and now she was rapidly approaching her real age again. Whatever it was that made her young was wearing off. She sat down on the toilet seat sobbing and grieving her disappearing youth, while trying to figure out what gave it back. If she could get it then she could look young again. No, she would be young forever!

Her tears stopped as she realised what it had been that gave her youth back. She had drunk a mysterious bottle of water the night before and that must have been the thing that made her young. She rushed out without bathing or preparing herself. She ordered her men to take her to the club where she fished out the label-less bottle from the trash can she threw it in. There was only a little left and she desperately drained it of the last few drops.

Her men were confused at seeing her strange behaviour. First, she did not make herself presentable before going in public, a fact made obvious by her messy green hair and her face devoid of make-up. And now she was drinking water from a trash can.

She looked at the bottle as she remembered were she got it from. "Call D-Zee here, NOW!" She desperately said.

They called D-Zee up to her office while she made herself look 'better'. By the time D-Zee came up, she looked like her usual pretty self. D-Zee came in the office and was offered a sea.

"How are you, D-Zee?" She said having regained her composure.

"I'm okay." He said as Marylyn placed a glass in front of him and poured him some of her finest and most expensive whisky.

Marylyn sat beside him on the desk, allowing him a view of her silky legs before slowly leaning down to him, "I'm glad to hear that. Go ahead take a drink." Marylyn said sultrily. When she saw his apprehension she smiled sweetly and took a sip from the glass before placing it back in front of him. "Don't worry, I want you to have some." She smiled when he took a sip of the whiskey. "Now tell me, the handbag you stole last night, do you know who it belonged to?"

"Yes," D-Zee said not used to getting so much attention from his beautiful older boss.

"Can you contact the owner?" She said.

"Uhm..." D-Zee hesitated, his hand instinctively went to his pocket to touch the paper with Jade's apartment phone numbers.

"Come now, my little D-Zee," Marylyn said as she went behind him and began massaging his shoulders. "You won't regret it," she whispered in his ear.

D-Zee's heart was beating quickly in his chest. He really liked Anita and he already felt guilty enough because he stole from her and he did not know if he could forgive himself if he unleashed his boss lady on her. He did not know what she wanted Anita for but he knew it would be not good... for Anita. "I don't think..."

At his whiney and reluctant voice, Marylyn squeezed harder on her shoulders. Her pleasurable massage turned into an uncomfortable grip on his shoulders. "Now answer carefully, boy." Her voice said harshly. "If you fail to do this for me then I'll throw you on the streets I found you in."

D-Zee gulped as he saw the shadow of two of her henchmen entering the office. "I... I can do it."

Marylyn smiled and her voice returned to its pleasantness. "Good. I want you to contact the owner and this is what I want you to do..."

/

Anita sat alone in Jade's apartment. She watched television, studying the world's politics from an American view, from news stations and numerous documentaries. She was trying to understand how the outside world worked and how each country related to each other, so far she did not like what she saw. The phone in the apartment rang, startling her. She answered the phone, "Hello?"

"'Elo, am I speaking to Anita?" The voice said on the other side.

Anita smiled, recognising the accent through the phone lines. "Yes, hello D-Zee."

"Elo love, where are you? Can we meet up?" He asked.

Anita looked at the television set as some politician spoke on the importance of pre-emptively striking. "I don't know..."

"Come on now. I'd love to see you again."

Anita looked down shyly as if he was in the room with her. This could help her in some ways. Maybe D-Zee could help her figure out where her handbag with her youth granting water disappeared to last night. "Okay."

/

Anita and D-Zee met up. Anita found the boy uncharacteristically withdrawn. He was not as cocky as last night. Regardless of his strange behaviour, she liked his company very much. When she told him about her missing possessions, he suggested that they go to the club and ask the owner if she knew anything.

They entered the club which looked deserted compared to last night. There were only a few workers preparing the place for the party that would take place tonight. They walked to the bar counter and D-Zee ordered Anita a juice while he got himself something stronger.

"So, where do you think the owner is?" Anita said looking around as the barmen placed their drinks before them.

"I'm sure she'll be here soon." D-Zee said looking nervously around.

"You keep referring to the owner as a she, do you know her?"

"Uhm..." D-Zee said trying to think of a lie. "No, I've seen 'er around though. Here, drink up." He said gesturing to her juice.

Anita began drinking the juice while D-Zee asked the barman to summon his boss. Marylyn Mores appeared and approached them. Anita could immediately see that she was the boss from the air of authority that hung around her and by how the employees acted in her presence. On either side were her two henchmen in black suites with red trimmings. She recognised them as the two guys she and the other girls had an altercation with.

"Hey, you arrrrr..." She slurred before feeling dizzy and falling over. D-Zee caught her and the last thing she saw was Marylyn's smiling face...

/

I arrived home to find the apartment empty. Initially, I was not worried, I figured that Anita was probably out exploring, however as the day turned into night, I grew increasingly worried. I felt so powerless as I did not know where she was and I had no way of contacting her. It was almost midnight so I called Emily...

"I don't know where she is." Emily said from the other side of the line answering a question of mine. "Maybe you should call the cops."

"I did. They said something about a 48 hour waiting period." I told her.

"We can look for her, do you have any hunches where she may be?"

"I have one," I said, thinking about the club. "But let's wait the night out. If she's not here by tomorrow morning, we'll look for her." I said before she agreed and we said our goodbyes. Anita had been worried about the whole losing the magic water thing, so maybe she went back to the club where she lost it. If she did not come by morning, when she would take her life sustaining water, then it meant that her life would be in danger.

/

Jade was correct to suspect that Anita was at the club. Anita was tied to a chair in a dimly lit room while the music drifted to her secret prison. The door opened and in walked Marylyn. "Hello, little girl," she said to Anita who mumbled back through the silver tape over her mouth. Marylyn ripped it out.

Ignoring the stinging pain at her lips she began to plead, "Please, let us go. We have nothing..."

"Us?" Marylyn said raising a well trimmed eyebrow.

"D-Zee and I."

Marylyn began giggling softly until she let out a full laughter that echoed through the room. "D-Zee is the one who put you here!" She said cruelly.

"No," Anita whispered to herself.

"Yes!" She said, parting her full lips to reveal her pearly whites in a cocky smile. "But let's not talk about that boy, he bores me. Instead, let's talk about something more important: what I want." She said putting her face closer to Anita's. "Tell me where I can get more of that wonderful, magic water."

A look of shock passed by Anita's face. _She knew about the water of youth_ , she thought to herself. "I... I don't know what you're talking about."

"Has anyone ever told you that you're a horrible liar?" Marylyn said seeing through the girl's weak attempt at lying. She dug a flick knife out of her pocket and flicked the blade out. "Don't make me hurt you, girl." She said holding Anita's face up by placing her chin between her fingers with long painted nails. "Right now you are alive but that could change quickly." She said before letting her face go. She began walking for the exit. "I'll give you the night to think about it, think about the good you'll be doing for the humanity by helping me to preserve my beauty forever! "

/

I worriedly looked on as the sun rose over the spot Anita would normally do her prayer, except this time Anita was not there. She had not come home last night, which meant that she would begin to rapidly age unless she had some of her magic water. I took out my mobile phone and contacted Emily, who came by immediately with her car. I took a full bottle of the blessed water before we headed for the club that we suspected that our friend may be in.

/

D-Zee was sneaking around the club looking for Anita. He felt very guilty about leading her to the situation she was in. He was resolved to help her escape and deal with the consequences later. He made it to the door of the room she was kept in. Upon trying to open it, he found that it was locked. He produced a lock pick from his pocket and proceeded to pick the lock. He was in so much heavy concentration with trying to open the door, that he did not notice the two men coming up from behind him. They roughly grabbed him and threw him to the floor at Marylyn's feet.

"Well well well, look's like we have a traitor," the bigger henchman with the bald head and darker skin said.

"No, I..." D-Zee began.

"I'm very disappointed in you, D-Zee." Marylyn said before walking over him, heading for the door. "Keep an eye on him until I come out." She said before opening the door.

Inside the room, Anita was hunched over her chair. "I'm back, girl." Marylyn said. "I hope you thought about what I said." Marylyn gasped when Anita looked up at her. The young twenty something woman she had been talking to yesterday was gone and in her place was a frail looking old woman with greying hair and sunk in eyes. "You little witch! You don't want to tell me where I can get the magic water so that you can keep it all for yourself?" Marylyn said outraged. "You are a 6 out of ten at best, while I'm a 12! Why should you have eternal youth and not me?" An evil smile appeared on her face as an idea crept into her head. "Bring D-Zee in here!" She called out.

D-Zee was dragged in by the two henchmen. Anita looked up hopefully at the young man being dragged in. She was relieved to see he was still alive.

"D-Zee, I give you, you're love!" Marylyn said gesturing at the old Anita at the chair.

D-Zee gazed upon the old woman in the chair. She had the dress Anita wore when she was taken but she was too old to be her. "No, this is not 'er." He said in disbelief.

"Oh, but it is," Marylyn said. "You're girlfriend is old enough to be your grandma! She lied to you!"

Anita had tears in her eyes as she weakly shook her head. "No. I never lied. D-Zee, please help me."

D-Zee started stepping back as if he was being confronted by something horrible. _This can't be her!_ He thought to himself.

"She lied to you, D-Zee but I never did. I picked you up from the streets and gave you a job and a purpose. What has she given you?" Marylyn said pointing at Anita.

"D-Zee, please..." Anita said with tears flowing down her cheek.

"Don't listen to anymore of her lies." Marylyn said pressed her hands on the sides of his face. "Who will you be loyal to, boy?"

D-Zee hesitated and then spoke. "You."

"Good boy, now leave us alone with her." Marylyn said and he ran out of the room. "Now, back to our prisoner." She said turning to Anita and withdrawing her pocket knife.

/

We arrived at the club. The afternoon sun was now high in the sky and I knew that wherever Anita was, she was quickly running out of time. Emily parked on the other side of the street and we headed for the club while I lead the way.

Emily was trying to keep up with me while I marched to the club. "Jade, I think we should take this easy for the time being. You know, not go in there guns blazing..."

"Don't worry, I'll control myself." I said as I walked to the entrance. There was a man at the door who held up his hand to stop us both. "Out of the way!" I said.

Emily peeked from behind me and added sweetly, "Please."

The men at the door in the black suit and red trimmings smiled at us. I got the feeling that he was checking us out, Emily in her blue flower printed dress and her stylish sunglasses which only partially hid her eyes and me, in my dark blue jeans and my orange hoodie jacket with the white t-shirt underneath. "You girls are a bit early for the club but if you're both looking for a party, my apartment is n..."

I did not give him a chance to complete his sentence before I kicked him and sent him flying through the club door. "What happened to controlling yourself?" Emily said as she followed me into the now 'open' club.

"I did control myself," I said innocently. "If I didn't, he wouldn't be breathing."

The club employees were gathered around us. There were three more men in the bouncer uniform of the club and Jade and Emily recognised one of them. "Look at what the cat dragged in, the hobo whisperers." The bigger black man said.

I took a fighting stance as I faced him. Emily quickly walked in front of me, stepping in between us. "We don't want any trouble. We're just looking for our friend. She went missing yesterday."

"I assure you, we do not know where your friend is." Marylyn's voice said as she appeared from the side. The employees parted to let her through. "I'm the owner of this club, Marylyn Mores."

I abandoned my fighting stance to face her.

"Hello, Ms Mores," Emily said. "We were hoping that you could help us find our friend."

"Like I said, we do not know where your friend is." Marylyn insisted.

"Then you won't mind us looking around." I said.

She smiled, revealing her dazzling smile. "Be my guest."

I nodded. Emily and I split up as we searched the club for our friend. An hour later and we could still not find anything. We were even checking some places for the third time.

After some time Marylyn spoke up. "You have obviously found nothing and I have been more than patient with you!" She said from the bar counter. "Now please, leave."

Emily and I exchanged looks. As much as I hated to admit it, we could not justify us staying any longer. As we were leaving the building someone walked in that Emily instantly recognised.

"D-Zee?" Emily exclaimed.

I looked at the boy and I too recognised from the previous night by his dark skin and his diamond earrings. "What are you doing here?" I asked as I walked closer to him.

"Oh, I'm just here for a drink." He said.

"But we were told that the club is closed." Emily said looking back at Marylyn.

"It's a good thing I'm a regular then." He said walking past us and deeper into the club.

"Our friend is missing, Anita" I said turning to look at him as he walked into the club. "Have you seen her?"

"No, I haven't, sorry." He said walking to the bar. "But I hope you find her."

I narrowed my eyes at him before I left the club with Emily.

We reluctantly left the club without our friend or any clue to where she may be. We arrived at the car outside and just stood there. I watched the club very closely while thinking of what I should do next. A breeze passed by, fluttering Emily's ginger hair and my brunette ponytail.

"What do we do now?" Emily asked. "You want us to look at another place."

I shook my head. "My gut tells me that this place has something to do with Anita's disappearance," I said, referring to the club. "And D-Zee's appearance only confirms it."

"Yeah, what kind of guy goes out for a drink alone?" Emily said. "I don't buy it for a second but how do we..."

Someone suddenly grabbed my shoulder and I turned around with my fists raised. I saw the homeless man from the other night. "You? You should stop grabbing people like that, old man." I said feeling annoyed.

"Hey, you're name is... uhm... Bernard, right?!" Emily said.

Bernard nodded.

I looked at the homeless man. "We're... we're looking for our friend... Bernard, you remember her, right?" I said hopefully.

He nodded and whispered, "Anita."

"Yes, do you know where she might be?"

Bernard pointed at the club across the street.

"We already looked but we couldn't find her." I said.

He continued to point at the club.

Emily noted that he was pointing more to the side of the club than directly at it. "Do you know where exactly she is, in the club?"

Bernard nodded emphasising the place he was pointing at by shaking his finger.

"Can you lead us there?" I asked and he nodded. I would finally find my friend but I could not let Emily come along. I could not let her find out Anita's secret if it wasn't necessary. "Emily, I'll follow Bernard to Anita, you stay here."

"What?" Emily said.

"Listen, it's going to be dangerous and I would rather have someone here to call the cops if I don't return in ten minutes."

Emily reluctantly nodded before Bernard led me across the street. Instead of the main entrance, we entered the side alley. I followed him along the side of the building until he stopped and pointed up to a ladder that had been drawn up. I understood now. The club probably had a few rooms that were secretly hidden from the main area of the club.

"Thank you, Bernard." I said. "I suggest you find a safe place to hide while I investigate." When Bernard was gone I began acrobatically going up the wall until I reached the drawn up ladder and climbed up. I opened the door at the end of the ladder which led me to a long hall. I quietly ran through the hall and took a few turns before I came upon a room. It was locked so I decided the time for subtlety was over. I stepped back before charging at the door and fly kicking it open.

Inside was a startled Anita. She looked awful. Her skin had deep wrinkles and was almost as white as a ghost, the outline of her chest bones could be seen through her chest and her head only had the bare minimum of grey hair. It was like she was a few minutes away from turning to dust.

 _So this is how a woman over the age of 200 looks like,_ I thought to myself before I ran to her and carefully untied her bonds. As I was busy with the rope knots, I noticed the multiple lacerations on Anita's skin. My time at Section 13 made it easy for me to recognise torture, and Anita had been tortured. It made me angry to think that a friend of mine could be treated like this.

" _Sister_ _Jade_ ," Anita struggled to speak.

"Save your strength." I said once I got her free. She could not stand and I was too afraid to move her, lest I break any of her bones. From my jacket I produced a bottle of blessed water. I held it up to her lips but she weakly raised her hand to stop me.

" _Prayer,_ " she said in her weak raspy voice.

"The prayer doesn't matter now. You can do it later." I said but she weakly shook her head. "Okay uhm..." I tried to recollect the prayer:

 _Great One and the other ones with you_

 _Let this water be drunked and..._

 _Yada yada_

 _You are worthy!_ "

I said before I forced the bottle into her mouth and the water down her throat. She choked a little but soon finished all of the water before someone walked into the room and I quickly turned around.

"What are you doing?" Marylyn screeched at seeing me.

"I knew you had something to do with this!" I said holding up my fist.

"Thank you, Sister Jade." A voice said from behind me.

I looked back and smiled when I saw Anita stand up. She looked like a woman in her twenties again.

"Noooo!" Marylyn screamed. "I was supposed to get young!"

"The only thing you'll be getting is a beating!" I said before charging at her. Marylyn stepped back and one of her henchmen stepped in between us. I quickly knocked the henchman out while chasing after the fleeing Marylyn.

"Jade wait!" Anita said as she chased after me.

I entered into the main club. It seemed that the place I was in was hidden by a false wall, which explains why I could not find it. I chased Marylyn Mores down the stairs where a few people were waiting to protect her. I did not slow down as I charged into three guys and a girl kicking and punching. While I chased down Marylyn, Anita also emerged into the main area of the club. She took an alternative route and ended up at the dancefloor.

She recognised the place. She recognised the giant vase with the giant man-made flowers with the glass buds. This was where she and D-Zee...

"Anita?" Anita heard a voice say behind her and she turned around to see a surprised D-Zee.

"D-Zee," she said between clenched teeth.

"You're back to normal," he said approaching her.

Anita stepped back. "I was always normal!"

"Come now, Anita..." he said reaching out for her. "I'm not going to hurt you."

Anita's back hit the giant vase. She was cornered with nowhere to go as D-Zee advanced. She looked fearfully at his face and then remembered all the things that had been done to her. She had been deceived, tied up and treated badly like she was less than human. The thought made her angry. She was not weak and she could protect herself. She was after all an Ambassador of the Muntakabes! Anita withdrew one of the giant flowers from the vase and she swung it down making the glass at the end of the vase smash on the ground.

She pointed one end of her newly acquired weapon at D-Zee, which stopped him in his place. She gripped the staff in the reverse-like grip above her shoulder like she was taught during spear class. The wood felt strange in her hands and then she realised it wasn't wood at all; it was a plastic like material that was made to look like wood. _Is nothing real in this place,_ she thought to herself. "Stay away from me!"

"Come on, Anita. Maybe I overreac..."

Anita struck forward with the spear and hit D-Zee's face. He stumbled back while holding his head. She leapt forward and drove the end of the staff into his stomach. Although the staff was pointed at both ends, it was too blunt to pierce anything but it did seem to hurt him a lot. Anita smiled at herself after having performed the moves successfully. "Hey, looks like Katlego's spear training class paid off!"

D-Zee began recovering from the attacks. When Anita tried to strike him, he was able to dodge each strike, while getting closer to Anita. He grabbed the staff in one hand. "Now what are you going to do?"

Anita pulled at the staff but D-Zee held it tightly so she pushed it into him instead and the pointy end hit his ribs. Anita jumped back as she prepared to execute a move called, hunting the springbok. She threw the staff and it struck D-Zee's chest. D-Zee raised his eyebrow and shrugged it off. Anita smacked her forehead as she remembered that her weapon was more of a pointed staff than a spear and that D-Zee is not a springbok. Now she had no weapon as D-Zee began approaching her again.

/

Marylyn Mores ran past and in between Anita and D-Zee. This made D-Zee stop to look at her. "Ms. Mores?" He said as she kept running, moving away from them. He looked at his side just in time to see me running at him before I fly kicked him into Marylyn causing them to fall in a heap of bodies.

"Get off of me!" Marylyn screamed, hitting D-Zee off of her.

"You okay?" I asked Anita and she nodded.

The two last henchmen joined Marylyn at her side. They were the two who Jade had an altercation with the other night. "She... she took out all my children!" Marylyn shouted.

"The thieves?" The shorter of the two with fairer skin said. "D-Zee's kind are weak." He said lightly kicking D-Zee's unconscious body.

"Yeah, let _us_ handle it." The other of the brutes said looking at me, remembering his grudge with me.

I prepared myself to fight the two. "Sister Jade," Anita whispered to me. "Will you need a weapon?" She asked me as she offered me a flat staff that she had been fighting with previously.

I accepted the staff gratefully. "Thank you, Anita." I whispered back. It had been a while since I've fought with a weapon but it couldn't hurt against these two idiots.

The smaller one, who was really as tall as me, charged first with fists swinging. I swatted his punch away with the staff and brought it back up where it connected with his neck. He grasped his neck as I quickly spun the staff over my head before bringing it down onto his head. He fell to his knees dazed and I used the back of his head as a stepping platform to launch myself in the air, which drove his face hard into the ground, knocking him out. In the air, I raised the staff over my head and brought it down aiming for the bigger guy's head. He side stepped and my staff made contact with the ground where his body was standing just a second ago. He came in with a big punch and I put the staff up parallel to the ground to block it. His fist smashed through my staff, cracking it in half and I had to jump back to avoid getting hit. I looked at the two pieces in my hand and dropped them to the ground.

"Yeah, beat her up!" Marylyn cheered from the sidelines.

The henchman began moving around like a boxer and I adopted the same stance that he did. Except for the high stance, I did not know much about the boxing style but I figured it couldn't that hard from all the other martial arts I knew. He came in close and began throwing different punches. I was able to dodge the first two jabs but the other punches connected with my forearms, which were protecting my face. He made a huge right hook which although I was able to block, threw me off balance with its sheer power. I stumbled away from him as he stocked me like I was his prey.

"That's it! She has nothing on you!" Marylyn screamed.

I abandoned the boxing stance and returned to my martial arts. He came in with a few punches which I was able to divert away before I threw a punch which connected with his bobbing head. He stepped back and wiped his mouth as a trickle of spit had escaped when I punched him in the cheek. "You hit like a girl," he said.

"Good," I said, "then this fight will end quicker."

As he came in I threw a side snapping kick which he blocked and rushed forward. I was able to block his barrage of punches while spacing myself away from him. When I was out of his range, he was forced to shift forward to get in range of me again. Just as he shifted forward I turned to my side and delivered a thrusting kick to his knee, making his legs buckle to his knees. When he was down on his knees I swivelled around, bringing my fists around with me like blades on a windmill or fan. My right hand hit him in a back handed fist while my left hit him with a left hook and just like that, he was knocked unconscious.

I had to shake my hands and blow on them in an attempt to dispel the pain caused by hitting his hard head. Marylyn was shocked at seeing two of her best fighters beaten at the same time. She turned to run but instead met with Anita's fist, which knocked her unconscious. Anita, too had to shake her hand and blow on it after as punching someone was more painful than she expected. We both heard sirens coming closer to the club. Emily must have called the police.

/

The debacle was over. Marylyn Mores and her cronies were arrested for kidnapping and after the police searched their premises, they found many stolen goods and Marylyn was sent to an insane asylum after she told the police about magic water that could keep anyone young. Emily gave Anita and I a ride back to my apartment.

Anita hugged Emily goodbye and thanked her for helping to save her. We got into the apartment exhausted. I slumped down on the couch exhausted. Anita was also very tired but something else was bothering her.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I thought I was beginning to understand this world but then I miss-judged D-Zee and I get kidnapped." She said sadly and disappointedly.

I hugged her from the side which surprised her because I usually kept a no touch zone around my body. "Hey, you weren't wrong about everything." I said. "And until you figure everything out, I'll be here to support you and you can live with me until... you don't need to."

"Thank you, Sister Jade!" Anita said hugging me back. "I hope you don't mind having an over a 200 year old roommate!"

"Yeah, just don't start to decompose or anything like that. I heard that it's hard to get it out of the carpet."


	5. Bridge of Souls

**Chapter 5 Abstract** (You don't really see this part, you're mind's playing tricks on you)

Jade Chan is a young woman who is a skilled fighter. As an Agent of Section 13 and with her ties to the world of magic, her life is far from normal. These are her adventures.

Jade is called in to help investigate the reason behind a string of coma's in a town in Sweden. Her idea to find out what's happening results in a dangerous mission that the Director of Section 13, Captain Black is dragged into.

* * *

 **Bridge of Souls**

I looked out of the window of the helicopter to the Swedish town below. The multitudes of lights from house windows shone out into the night, adding to the street lights. Families were probably having their dinner. I missed my dinner to participate in this mission. A mission I still did not know the details of yet.

The black sleek helicopter landed on a grassy hill overlooking the small Swedish town and I, along with several other agents stepped out into the cool air. There were a few black tents set up in the distance and I was led to the biggest one which was written, 'Main' in Swedish. Inside the tent were scientists tinkering with some sophisticated equipment and by sophisticated, I mean I have no idea what those machines are or do. I was led past the scientist to the center of the tent were there was a big flat screen TV.

The TV blinked on to reveal Captain Black's face.

"Hey Captain!" I said. "I thought for sure you would be here in person this time."

"I'm too busy to oversee every mission personally, Agent Chan." Captain Black said.

"I was told that you wanted me on this mission for my expertise." I said, raising my eyebrow at the 'Agent Chan' thing. "I didn't even know I had expertise... well except kicking butt of course."

"Well, I guess you are here more because of your experience with the strange than anything else." Captain Black said.

This got me very interested. "What _strange_ things have been happening here, Cap?"

"Uhm... Jade, could you refrain from calling me Cap." Captain Black said, obviously not liking my pet name for him. Or it may have something to do with some of the giggling agents in black who were listening in on our conversation.

"Of course, sorry Cap... tain Black." I added hastily.

The on screen image of Captain Black head sighed before continuing. "The strangest thing that has been happening in this town is an increase in people entering comas. The townsfolk just go to sleep and some of them simply don't wake up. It started four days ago with one or two people and then it steadily increased. Now we've got a little over a hundred people in comas and worst of all, it seems to be spreading."

"You guys think it's a disease?" I said, looking around for people in hazmat suites to take me to quarantine.

"No," Captain Black said. "We've had every kind of specialist scientist to check the place out. They've confirmed that whatever is happening is not born from a disease or any explainable, scientific reason."

"So you think it's an unexplainable magic reason?" I said.

"It's possible." Captain Black said. "So any ideas in how to help would be greatly appreciated."

At that moment I felt a lot of eyes turn to me. Men in white lab coats who had probably failed to discern the cause of this epidemic and agents dressed in black who were more experienced and higher ranked than me listened eagerly for my reply. I involuntarily gulped at the amount of pressure placed on me. Why had Captain Black asked me anyways? It was not like I was a chi wizard like Tohru or a history buff like my missing Uncle Jackie. I was just your regular, butt kicking Jade Chan.

I tried thinking of an answer and I heard Uncle;'s voice telling me what he had told Captain Black numerous of times. "Well since you may be dealing with a magical problem, the best way to find out what is going on might be through magical means and not... scientific." I looked around at the fancy equipment that I would probably never know how to operate for as long as I lived.

"How do we do that?" He asked.

It took me some time to figure out what I should say. My mind was asking itself, _what would Jackie do? What would Uncle do? What would Tohru do?_ I shook my head free of those thoughts. I was neither of them, so I could not do what either of them would have done. The only option was for me to do what Jade would do. I began thinking like myself to get an answer.

"I got it!" I said, startling some of the scientists. "Well a coma is a form of sleep right?"

"Uhm..." Captain Black looked around before answering, "I don't know. I guess."

"Well I think it is." I said, him being unsure made me a little unsure. "So maybe we should see what's going on in their heads while they're having their comas."

"How do we do that?" Captain Black asked.

"Easy. We use the sheep talisman." I said folding my arms in confidence.

"What?" Captain Black said. It almost looked like his head would become 3D and pop out of the screen in surprise. "We can't use the talismans."

"Why not?" I asked. "It seems to me like if we don't, more people are going to fall into comas. And if we do use them, then maybe we can help those already in comas."

"No one knows how to even use the sheep talisman." Captain Black protested.

"I do." I simply said. "I've used a couple of times when I was still a kid. You can give it to me and I can use it to find out what's going on and help these people."

Captain Black kept quite. He was thinking deeply about what I had said. "Fine..."

At that I began to whoop and pump my fist into the air. Everyone looked at me with surprise. What? Had these squares never seen someone happy before? I regained my composure. "Thank you Captain for believing in my skills." I said, adding an accent I was not sure where I picked it up from but it sounded... professional.

"Just be careful, Agent Chan."

"I will."

/

I still could not fully believe that I had convinced Captain Black to allow me to use a talisman. At least I would not have to steal it this time. It took a few hours for the planes to fly all the way back to Section 13 headquarters which was in a whole other country and fly back to Sweden with the sheep talisman in a highly secured voice locked box.

The box was presented to the TV monitor that Captain Black had been communicating through. He cleared his throat before uttering the words, "Open." There was a ping and the box's lid popped open. I was glad the talismans were not usually locked like that. To gain access one would either have to present their retinas or fingerprints. Lucky for me, someone forgot to erase my retina off vault system their kept in.

"Alright Jade, now it's up to you." Captain Black said as the man carrying the box presented its contents to me. I reached into it and pulled out the magical hexagonal stone."Remember, you find out what's happening and then you return immediately. Do not engage anyone in a fight, understood?"

"Yeah yeah yeah," I said before I could stop myself. My hand slapped my mouth shut before I said, "I mean, yes Captain. Find out whats happening but don't engage." I said in my professional accent.

"Maybe if we're lucky, we'll find a way to give you some assistance." Captain Black said as I sat down on a chair. I looked at the talisman in my hand and squeezed it. The sheep on the talisman glowed and before I knew it my soul self had slipped out of my body and was now floating in the air.

I did a few twirls in the air. "I forgot how much fun this was!" I happily said to myself. "Okay, mission time." I slowly rose in altitude, phasing through the roof of the tent and out into the afternoon sky. Afternoon? Wait, it was still night! I looked up and saw a circular source of light at the centre of the town that shone with bright white light. For a moment I was tempted to go to it to find out what was happening, but I stopped myself. My mission, for now, was to check out the coma patients and that was what I intended to do as I flew into the town.

/

I found a house with a woman in a coma. His son was holding her hand as she breathed easily in her unconsciousness. I felt sorry for the young boy. He seemed reluctant to leave his mother's side. I flew for the mother's head to enter her consciousness but instead I found myself phasing through her.

"That's weird," I said to myself. I tried again, only to come up with the same result. "Maybe I need to try someone else." I said as I flew away from the house, making a final glance to the boy at his mother's bedside.

As I phased through the roof a silvery streak passed just above me. I looked at the fast disappearing streak and noticed that it looked more like a silver, partly transparent woman with long flowing hair. I began to chase the female-like humanoid through the town. I doubted that anybody else could really see her. She must exist in the astral world, a world I can access only thanks to the sheep talisman.

"Hey you!" I said as I flew after her. "Stop!"

It did not stop, it didn't even pay me any attention as it was neither speeding up to get away from me, but I was catching up. To my surprise it dove through and into a house and I followed after her. I found myself in the living room of the owner of the house. The owner, or at least I assumed it was the owner, was splayed along the couch. The television set was on but it was obvious that he had fallen asleep in front of it.

The female-like humanoid hovered over him for a while before she thrust her hand out and into the man's chest! This, I'm ashamed to say, shocked me to in-action. I watched as it began pulling something out. A white humanoid figure was pulled out of the sleeping man's body. The humanoid looked exactly like him, except for the whole made of light thing.

The humanoid began shrinking in the ghost-like hands of the lady who had plucked him from his body. I understood now, this woman was stealing souls. The man's soul shrunk to a wispy ball of light in the silver its hand.

After I had recovered from my shock, I flew over to her threateningly. "Hey, you better release him!"

The female-like humanoid opened its mouth and let out a sharp scream along with a shower of silver light shards. The blast of silver energy pushed me back as some of the mirrors in the house cracked. I was thrown outside, where I hovered just above the ground, looking up. The sky now had more of these silver female humanoids.

The one I had been chasing shot out of the house and headed straight up. Determined not to let it have the human, I followed after.

"Give him back!" I shouted to it.

It looked down and sent out another scream. This time I was prepared and swerved out of the way. I was gaining ground, getting close enough to touch its long, flowing hair before I noticed where we were going. She was going to the bright ball of white light in the middle of the town's sky.

I hesitated for a while, unsure of whether to follow this creature to the light or stick to the mission and return to Black with the information I had learned."No," I said to myself as I resumed the chase.

 _Sometimes_ , I reasoned with myself, _exceptional things happen that force us to break the rules. This is one of those times._ The creature disappeared into the heart of the light and I followed. The white light was blinding and soon, everything reflected or became one with the light. I tried closing my eyes to block the light to no avail. As I headed deeper into the light, my vision was fully blinded and all I saw and knew was bright white light before a sudden darkness...

/

I came to, looking up at the blue sky. No, the sky was unusually... bluer than normal. I rose up to a sitting position and looked around me. I had been lying in a field of tall green grass and the air about me had an unusual blue tint to it that seemed to intensify all the colours of the world. I rose to my feet and instantly, I saw another thing that was off. I was in a dress!

The dress was white, sleeveless with gold trimmings. I had no shoes, leaving my feet exposed and had a thin crown-like circle going around my head, completed with gold earrings with jade gems in them. This was strange because the last time I checked, even in my astral form, I was wearing my black spy suite with white trimmings.

Question of who had taken my clothes off of me started floating in my head while I had the urge to cover myself with my hands. I looked around, feeling a little violated. And that's when I saw them. Three silver female things were flying towards me, their hands were menacing claws.

"Are you witches the ones that took my clothes?" I shouted angrily at them. I gritted my teeth in anger. They were obviously coming to attack me but if they thought that I was going to take it lying down, they were sorely mistaken. I began charging towards their direction. I knew it would not be long before they reached my position on the ground but I wanted to meet them in the air. I leapt up and flew towards them... well, maybe flew was the incorrect word to use. I did technically fly but only for a few seconds and I only got a few feet off the ground before plummeting face first into the tall green grass.

What happened to my sheep talisman charged powers? Last time I checked, I had not returned to my body. I looked up in horror as one of the females with wispy long silver hair came ever closer to me. I braced myself for the worst and that was when something struck her.

The sounds of the female-like humanoid screaming and wolf howls rend in the air. White wolf heads with wispy streams for bodies erupted from her chest and spun around her rapidly, tearing her apart while somehow continuing to make howling sounds. The female-like humanoid's comrades were repelled by its suffering and horrible sounds it made while being torn apart.

Soon there was nothing left of the female-like creature and the wolf heads likewise also disappeared. To say I was stunned would have been an understatement. I had no idea what just happened.

"Are you okay, Jade?" A familiar voice said from behind me.

I looked back up and saw the face shrouded in shadow as the sun was behind my saviour. He offered me his hand and I took and he helped me to my feet. I gasped when I saw who it was. "Captain Black!" I said hugging him, which surprised him greatly. "I can't believe you're here, in the flesh!" I said after parting from him.

Captain Black wore a white tunic which in my opinion was way too short. It hardly covered his knees! The tunic was seemingly held together by a golden circular clasp just above the right side of his chest. He wore a golden bracelet and in his hand he had a snow white, glimmering 8mml semi-automatic gun. It looked like the steel was white with the bolts keeping it together being a light grey.

"Well, I'm not exactly here in the flesh." Captain Black said as his gun disintegrated into white glowing smoke that I could have sworn was then sucked up into his wrist.

"Did you also use the sheep talisman?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Not... exactly." Captain Black said carefully.

I let a moment of silence pass by, thinking about what he had said and expecting a more detailed explanation. Obviously Black was keeping a secret... well he was a secret agent boss so I guess he had many secrets but the one he was keeping seemed to be of a magical nature. "Do you have any idea where we are?" I said breaking the silence.

"I was hoping you would know." Captain Black said. "Last thing I remember was floating through the town and then seeing a giant white light in the sky that these... lady creatures went into with... I don't know what they were carrying."

"They were carrying souls." I said, recognising the energy. I looked up at the abnormally blue sky. "If you also got here by travelling through the light that means we are in another world."

"I was afraid you'd say that." Captain Black said. "How do we get out of here?"

"I don't know." I said nonchalantly. "I guess we should first find out what those creatures are doing with the souls they've been stealing."

"Alright then," Captain Black said, "I guess we should start moving. Those creatures seemed to have retreated that way, so that is where we're going." Captain Black said as he started walking.

"Hey! Wait for me!" I said. "I thought I was suppose to be leading this, since I'm the expert."

/

We walked for sometime in the grassy land. If it was not for the fact that I did not know where we were or that we were chasing down soul thieves, I would have tried to enjoy the beauty of the land. Captain Black and I spoke strategy while we trekked through the landscape. We made rules of engagement, which were:

We were to remain hidden unless discovered

Our main goal is to rescue the souls, preferably covertly

Captain Black is in charge... no question

The last rule bummed me out. I thought this would be an equal partnership thing but I guess I understand; I did sign up for him to be my superior.

"Hey Captain Black, why are you never around?" I asked him after a while of walking in silence.

"What do you mean? I'm always around." Captain Black said with mirth in his voice. "If I wasn't, I couldn't call myself the director of Section 13."

"Yes... but I mean like in the old days." I said, trying to word this in a way that his sly mind could not find a way to wiggle out of. "Sometimes I feel like my boss is a video of you on a flat screen television instead of you. Why are you never in your office or even on headquarters?"

"We've arrived," Captain Black said before running forward.

I looked up and saw a looming mountain ahead of us. Where did that come from? I followed Captain Black before sighing. I was frustrated and impressed that he could avoid all the questions he did not want to answer. I should ask him to teach me that.

We pressed ourselves against the walls of the mountain. There was an entrance, marked with vines sprouting yellow and purple flowers. I saw a bright white mist appear in Captain Black's hand before the white and silver gun he had used before rested were the mist had been. I should ask him later how he does that. It looked so cool! But knowing him, he'd try to avoid answering me.

We went through the entrance and walked through a hallway with smooth marble. The hallway ended in a wide area with clean shining marble floors and walls. We walked in deeper until Captain Black put up a hand to stop me.

"Do you see the souls?" I whispered.

"No, I see the enemy." Captain Black said looking up. I followed his gaze up and saw more of the silver women from before and to make matters worse... they were all looking at us! I involuntarily gulped, which seemed to give them permission to come flying down towards us.

Captain Black raised his gun and I put up my arms, readying myself for a fight. Captain Black was about to shoot when a great wind knocked his gun from his hands, giving the humanoid figures a chance to descend on us, overwhelming us with their sheer numbers.

I wish I could say I fought bravely and was able to take a few of them out but I would be lying. In matter of seconds I was on the ground, being held by them and I suspected Captain Black fared no better. Some of them retreated, giving me some breathing room and allowing me to look around although I was still immobilised.

"What should we do with them?" One of them said.

"The bald one killed one of our sisters." Another said. "There should be no mercy for it!"

There was a murmur of agreement and I felt worried for Captain Black.

"But we should not forget the black haired one! It is an accomplice!" Another one said.

Okay, now I was worried about me just as much as I was worried about him.

"Sisters, you should not act so hastily." I heard a squeaky voice say.

I looked forward to see who the voice belonged to because it sounded nothing like the monotonous voices of the silver female-like humanoids. My eyes widened in surprise as I saw someone who I never expected to see. He wore a green shirt, blue jeans and was very short, being in a ten year old body. He had black hair with three protruding spikes combed back. H eraised his hands in a peaceful manner as he spoke to the female-like beings.

"Hsi Wu?" I blurted out.

Hsi Wu looked at me and smiled, "Hello, Jade."

/

I could not help but grit my teeth at the sight of the wind demon. I hated this guy second to his brother Shao Long. I watched him, throwing daggers at him with my eyes as I watched him negotiate for our lives. Wait what? He did not want these things to kill us?

A silver woman floated down from the ceiling to hover before the boy. "Hsi Wu, why will you not let my sisters have their vengeance?"

"Shia Ra, I understand your and the Wisp Sisters' grievances but we cannot waste souls." Hsi Wu said before looking at us. "They can be used."

"Used? What are you doing here Hsi Wu!" Captain Black said before one of the Wisp Sisters, as Hsi Wu called them, slapped him across the face to silence him.

"Well, it does not matter because you're not getting away with it!" I shouted, struggling to escape my captors.

"They're rude, crude and I feel it would be best for the universe if we snuff them out!" The one called Shia Ra flew to my face and her mouth formed threateningly sharp teeth. "And besides, we cannot harvest their souls while they are in _this_ form." She said before her terrifying features returned to normal.

"Harvest our souls?" Captain Black said before he smiled. "If our souls don't return to our world, I have a small army of chi wizards who are going to seal this place off from our world.

Wait what? He does? It can't be! The only chi wizard Captain Black knows is Tohru and all the others are either missing, like my Uncle, or in jail. He must be bluffing.

"Lies!" Shai Ra said turning to face him. "No human can close our portal."

Captain Black smiled at this, "Well, then I guess you're going to be very surprised when our wizards do close it."

Hsi Wu looked visibly worried about this. "Shia Ra, may I speak with you."

I watched as Hsi Wu called Shia Ra away and began a conversation with her and some of the other Wisp Sisters. Captain Black and I exchanged worried looks. Hsi Wu and the Wisp Sisters ended their meeting and the demon came to us. The wisp sister's that were part of the meeting scattered. Even in his disguise as a human boy, I knew what and who he was.

"Well good news," Hsi Wu said, "I've been able to stop the Wisp Sisters from executing you... for now. I'm hoping we can come to an agreement on how we will deal with the current situation."

"I think it's quite simple." Captain Black said. "You give us the souls you stole and never enter our world again."

"Uhm... I think not." Hsi Wu said. "I think negotiations are in order. Sadly, the Wisp Sisters do not trust either of you enough to let both of you go to negotiate with me, so I'll have to take one of you to negotiate with."

"I guess that would be me." Black said.

"I think not, human!" Shia Ra said with malice. She floated towards Captain Black.

"I too would have preferred to negotiate with you... Black is it!" Hsi Wu said to Captain Black. "I find you more reasonable." He said as he shot a look toward me which I returned with a glare of hate. "I guess I have no other choice than to take you, Jade Chan. But since you've grown, I think it would be wise if I do the same."

He said before a vortex of wind enveloped him. When the vortex dissipated, Hsi Wu was still standing there, albeit his disguise was that of an older boy. He still had the same black hair and red eyes but now he was taller and looked older. He was kind of handsome... no no no, demons are not handsome! I had to tell myself.

The Wisp Sisters that held me down slowly backed away, giving me freedom to get back on my feet, if I so wished.

"Well, shall we?" Hsi Wu held out a hand. I looked toward Captain Black for guidance, for direction... for permission. Captain Black nodded to me to go along with it, probably until I found a way to free the souls and him. I nodded back and slapped Hsi Wu's hand away before getting up on my own. Some of the Wisp Sisters hissed at this action and their hands formed claws but Hsi Wu raised his hand to calm them. "Let's go to a more... peaceful environment." Hsi Wu said, leaving the room with me following behind. I glanced worryingly at Captain Black as he disappeared from sight as I followed Hsi Wu. I hope I'll be able to get us both out of this...

/

I followed Hsi Wu out of the mountain and into a green forest. The grass was shorter here and allowed me to see my feet as blades of grass would sometimes shift in-between my toes. I began to wonder again who had taken my shoes and clothes from me and if they had seen me naked. I looked at Hsi Wu who was in front of me, walking leisurely with his hands in his pockets as if this was an easy stroll.

My cheeks suddenly went pink at the thought of him seeing me naked, if he had been responsible for my change in attire. However, the embarrassment turned into anger. Yes, I could use this anger to my advantage. I suddenly stopped. "Enough Hsi Wu, where are you taking me?"

"I thought we'd go to a peaceful place." Hsi Wu said. "It's quiet, serine and bea..."

"I don't care!" I purposefully interjected. "Release the souls you've taken!"

"Okay, I understand your concern but what about if I..." Hsi Wu began.

"Release the souls you've taken!" I said a little louder.

He smiled impatiently at this. "Clearly you don't know how negotiations work because..."

"Oh I know how they work." I said before pointing a thumb at myself, "I make demands and if you don't comply, I start swinging!" I said before I launched into an attack. He dodged two of my punches but could not avoid my round house kick, which he blocked and stumbled back into the tree from the force. I could tell he was not expecting me to be so forceful.

I kept my attack up before my foot was embedded on the tree were his head was a second ago. "I see you're still quite feisty!" He said with a smile on his face before he closed the fingers on one hand, allowing the index and middle finger to remain straight out. He swiped the air with his fingers and released crescent-shaped, demonic winds. I dodged the fast winds and was put in the path of a demonic wind I could not dodge. I was forced to punch the oncoming wind and was surprised when it dissipated against my forceful punch.

Initially, I was shocked. I knew Hsi Wu was capable of more power than that. At first I thought he was holding back because he was serious about negotiating but then I realised that could not be the case. He's a demon, he does not want peaceful negotiations. He's probably underestimating me. This made me grit my teeth as my anger increased.

He made a few more swiped into the air, releasing powerful curved winds. I dodged most of them and those that I could not I dissipated with a well placed punch or kick. When I was close to him, I kicked out but he was able to block it, however I advanced forward and used my momentum to throw a few punches. Hsi Wu was barely able to block them which made me smile. It seems that in close combat, I had the advantage. He grabbed my wrist and pulled it away from him but left my other hand free. He moved closer to me to try and limit my movement, we were now chest to chest. My free hand caught him in the side as he pressed his body to mine.

My eyes searched at his face as it went from a pained expression to an angry one. In that moment I was reminded of the demon I knew he was. But then his red eyes met mine and softened. A smile spread across his face. "You know Jade, I have missed you."

At that moment my expression softened too but then I remembered who I was dealing with. Hsi Wu was nothing more than a deceiver. I stepped back and was able to free my other hand from his grasp. I kneed him in the leg, causing him to lose his balance and then I used a move that allowed me to throw him to the ground. He surprised me by grabbing a hold of my shoulders on his way down to the ground, taking me with him. I ended up landing on top of him.

My face was pressed into the grass next to his. I pulled my upper body up and noticed him, under me. My hair messily handing down from the sides of my face down to his his, as if its black sheen was protecting us from the outside world, leaving me alone with him to stare into his red eyes. He smiled as he looked deeply into my black eyes.

"Wow," he whispered as if he was talking to himself but loud enough for me to hear, "you have grown into a beautiful woman, Jade Chan."

I immediately pushed myself off him. I sat on the grass as he pulled himself to a sitting position. He laughed lightly to himself. "I see you became the great fighter you wanted to be." He remarked. I tied my hair into a ponytail while looking away from him. Admittedly, turning my back on him was a mistake but I needed some time to compose myself. The fight had not gone at all how I had planned.

"What do you want with the souls, Hsi Wu?" I said, after I successfully tied my hair into a neat ponytail.

"I thought it was obvious, I want to use them to escape to Earth."

I whipped my head around to glare at him which caused him to laugh again and raise his hands in a show of peace. "It's not for the reasons you think," he said. "I have no intention of ruling the world or enslaving the human race."

"I bet that's what every demon says." I retorted.

"I am a changed... being." He said carefully. "And I am free of my evil family. I simply want to live in relative peace and comfort, hurting as few other beings as possible."

I looked around the beautiful forest around us. "Then why don't you stay here? It seems like you would be comfortable here with your wispy women."

"That's a long story," he said. I gave him another serious look, telling him that I would not accept such answers. "Okay, I'll tell you."

/

"Shia Ra," Captain Black said to the Wisp Sister. She whipped her silver head towards him before floating towards him quickly.

"How dare you call my name?" She hissed at him.

Captain Black was currently resting on a wall, while sitting down. The Wisp Sisters had not allowed him to stand. "My apologies but I need to speak to you. Could you please allow me to see the souls from Earth."

"I have no obligation to do anything for you, man!" She said.

"I know," Captain Black said, keeping eye contact with her silver eyes. "That is why I'm asking and not demanding. Please let me see them."

Shia Ra pursed her lips. She could tell that Captain Black was being sincere. "Fine, however if you try anything, I will ignore Hsi Wu's wishes and end your life." Shia Ra said, secretly hoping that he would do something that forced her hand. "You may rise and follow me."

Captain Black did as he was told and followed the Wisp Sister. They walked through the hallways in the mountain complex, on their way to the souls. Captain Black simply took stock of his surroundings, memorizing the way and each stone.

"Shia Ra, may I ask you something?" Captain Black said, dispelling the silence that had built between them.

Shia Ra looked back at him. She still did not know if she liked hearing her name on the human's lips. "You may ask but I may not answer." She said before continuing to float forward.

"Why are you working with the demon Hsi Wu?" Captain Black said. "Is he forcing you? Is he holding something dear to your people ransom? If that's the case, you can ally with us and we'll defeat him together. And dispel him form this world like we did in ours."

"You know nothing about Hsi Wu," Shia Ra stopped before turning around and floating to Captain Black. Her face stopped inches away from his. "He is our saviour." She said before floating away.

"In this world maybe but in mine, he does not have the title of saviour but something much worse." Captain Black said.

"If that is the case, then he has changed or is no longer the Hsi Wu you knew."

Captain Black snorted at this which caused Shia Ra to stop and slowly circle him. "You doubt that one can change, Black?" She asked, rather interested beside herself.

"My line of work has allowed me to see a lot of evil of many kinds and it has taught me that evil like his rarely changes." Captain Black said, standing in place and allowing the Wisp Sister to circle him.

"Of course," Shia Ra said before floating forward again. "I sometimes pity you humans. You are so limited by what your eyes see, what your ears hear and what your flesh feels. For you nothing else exists outside of those things. If you knew what we do, if you could feel what we feel, you would be more open to the possibilities of the world. Nonetheless, we have no intention of harming Hsi Wu. We only wish to help him escape."

"Why would you want him to go if he is the saviour that you claim he is?" Captain Black said.

Shia Ra completely stopped. Her hair and ghost-like tail were the only things that were fluttering around on some invisible wind that could move only them. She turned to look at him and said, "Because he is killing our world."

/

Hsi Wu got to his feet and I cautiously followed. He looked at me for a moment before he approached. I instinctively raised my hands and took a defensive stance.

"Come on, Jade." He said with a disarming smile. "If I wanted to kill you, don't you think I would have done it while we fought?"

"What do you want?" I asked him and he opened his mouth but I interject. "It doesn't even matter, I told you to explain what's going on!"

He walked closer to me and gently placed his hands on my shoulders which caused me to startle a little when his palms touched my bare skin. "I could tell you but I'd rather show you." At the last words, Hsi Wu's red eyes began glowing. I looked into the beautiful pupils and unbeknownst to me at the time, my eyes also began glowing red to match his as I was pulled into his spell.

" _See what I've seen_ ," he whispered in some other language that I had never heard before but because of his spell, I could understand him. I was aware of his hands moving from my shoulders to the side of my face, where he pulled me closer to him and our eyes glowed in a brighter red.

He began speaking with his true voice, his demonic voice as I was transported to another world, where my face was not in his gentle hands, nor was I staring into his eyes while practically sharing the same breath. His voice drew pictures in my head and I realised that I was seeing past events from his perspective.

 _I was in the Netherworld and, like my brothers and sisters, trying to find a way to escape the realm. I happened to come across a portal during my long search. The portal was small and drawing into itself the essence of the netherworld only to transport it to... well I had not found out yet. Although I was uncertain about the nature and the destination of the portal, I decided to take a gamble and try to use it to escape not only the Netherworld but my siblings too. I used my powers to make the portal big enough for me to go through and after I did, I emerged in another realm, the Wisprealm, home to the Wisp Sisters._

 _The first Wisp Sisters I met were Shia Ra and some of her dying companions. Apparently the portal had opened up decades earlier and was depositing demonic energy, which is the essence of the netherworld, and transporting it to their realm. In this realm, demonic energy is poisonous and disruptive to all. So most things that came in contact with it died. Soon enough a lot of demonic energy accumulated from the portal and steadily began poisoning a large portion of the realm. This forced the Wisp Sisters to abandon their homes in an attempt to escape the ever increasing demonic energy._

 _Shia Ra and a few of her brave sisters decided that they would brave the poisonous demonic energy and travel to the portal and attempt to close it. However, most of them could not stand the journey and they died along the way. Shia Ra and the few that were left were quiet surprised to see a living being coming from the portal and when they did see me, they asked me for help._

 _Imagine that! Someone, genuinely asking me for help! When I first arrived on Earth, my brothers and sisters had made quiet a reputation for themselves as evil beings and the rest of the human race simply painted me with the same brush. I'm not saying I was a saint or anything but I certainly was not as bad as my siblings, however, in the eyes of the humans that did not matter. I was a demon and as such I was to be despised and feared but here was Shia Ra, looking at me with a different opinion. To her, I was not an evil being to be hated and banished, I was a benevolent saviour._

 _I was moved enough by her request that I closed the portal and absorbed the demonic energy that had poisoned her world. I thought that was it, the day was saved. Tthe Wisp Sisters did not seem to mind my presence and I learned to live peacefully with them. However, things began going wrong when I noticed that the world was still dying, only now, around me. I forgot that as a demon, I naturally emit demonic energies, which grew more potent when I absorbed the large amount that was already poisoning this realm when I arrived. The Wisp Sisters and I realised that I could not stay here for long, lest I destroy their world, so we decided that it would be best if I escaped to Earth._

/

The images ended and I found myself looking into Hsi Wu's eyes, where their red glow was fading as it was in my eyes. As the light faded so did the emotions I had shared with Hsi Wu, including the frustration he felt when he tried to escape the Netherworld, the happiness he felt when Shia Ra welcomed him to live with her people and now the strong need to escape to Earth.

Once my bearings fully returned to me, I looked at Hsi Wu who was waiting patiently for me to fully recover. I saw him as he invited a ladybug off his green shirt and onto his palm. He stretched his arm up to a leaf and allowed the insect to walk onto the leaf before admiring it as it scurried away deeper in the tree's foliage.

He suddenly noticed me watching him and smiled. "So the spell has worn off, huh?"

"Yes," I said, biting my bottom lip uncertainly. A silence slowly grew between us, as if we both were reluctant to say anymore. "So you want to save this world by going to Earth." I suddenly said, dispelling the silence.

Hsi Wu nodded at this, still unwilling to talk. It put me off balance. This guy was cocky and loud mouthed so his silence was Catching me off guard.

"Why do you need the souls?" I asked.

"The Wisp Sisters can open a portal to Earth but the portal is not strong enough to allow me to go through." Hsi Wu explained. "Human souls are durable. So I'm going to use them to build a bridge across the portal so that I can safely pass through it without it collapsing and trapping me here."

It took a moment for me to understand what he planned to use the souls for. "Well, that all still leaves one important question..."

/

"What will happen to the souls after he uses them?" Captain Black asked Shia Ra after she explained why Hsi Wu needed to leave her world for Earth.

Shia Ra hesitated to answer.

"He didn't tell you, did he?" Captain Black said as he followed Shia Ra to their destination. It was a large room with a large glass tube that reached the high ceiling. Within the giant containment tube were balls of light with wisps for tails much like the Wisps Sisters'. Captain Black approached the amazing sight and touched the surface of the containment tube.

Shia Ra watched him carefully. "Are you always to guarded?" She asked him as he starred seriously at the beautiful sight of pure souls flying around the structure.

Captain Black smiled at this. "I could say the same for you." He said. "I guess it comes with the territory of being protectors of our people. And that is what I want to do, protect my people... all of them" Captain Black said, looking at the souls trapped in the containment tube.

"Hsi Wu would not needlessly harm them." Shia Ra found herself assuring this man that she was suppose to hate. Maybe it was because she could relate to him.

"You don't know him like we do."

/

"The souls will be okay," Hsi Wu said.

"Pfft, forgive me for doubting you," I said sarcastically.

He smiled at this. "Jade Chan, ever so feisty." Her said before offering me his hand. This made me hesitate. "I want to show you something." He said.

I narrowed my eyes then did something crazy, I took his hand. I was surprised when blue leathery wings expanded from his back. Before I knew it he flapped his wings and we launched into the air. I yelped for a moment and I almost kicked out until he said, "Relax." He was stifling a giggle as he said, "I didn't know you were afraid of heights."

"I am not! Next time warn me!" I shouted angrily at the jerk.

"Look," He said looking down.

I looked down below at the tall trees that seemed limited at the height we were flying at. I saw our shadows pass through the serine landscape before the tranquil forest passed only to be replaced by the tall grass that Captain Black and I had traversed through earlier. It swayed lazily as we passed by.

"You can let go of me." Hsi Wu, whispered to me. I only realised that I was hugging him tightly. I slowly let go of his body but held tightly to his hand. I was surprised when it seemed like I could also fly. I spread my other arm out just as he did and I felt like a bird.

I must have been laughing and smiling like a little kid because he found my reaction entertaining. I was admittedly disappointed when he said we had arrived at our destination. His wings began flapping again as we landed on the ground. I saw bright light in the sky, almost as bright as the sun but somehow more heavenly.

"This is the portal back to Earth." Hsi Wu said to me as we landed on the ground below. "Souls like the ones that the Wisp Sisters took..."

"You mean stole." I interjected.

"Uhm... well the souls know where they belong, so after I use them to cross the bridge, they will naturally follow and return to their bodies on the other side of the portal."

I had to take a moment to think about this. "Let's get back to Captain Black." I said.

/

Hsi Wu flew us back to the mountain home of the Wisp Sisters. The journey back was slightly less enjoyable as I had a lot on mind. Usually, a mission entailed me coming in, kicking butt, saving the day and going home but this one had more... elements in play, my world, the Wisp realm and the man whose hand I still held as we walked inside the mountain, Hsi Wu.

No, I told myself as I let go of his hand, he was not a man. He was a demon in the form of a man. I felt that I needed to remind myself of that when I found getting comfortable with him, which terrifyingly enough, seemed to happen with great ease.

We eventually reached Captain Black. Hsi Wu smiled cockily at him. "Ahh, Captain Black! Nice to see you're still alive."

Captain Black did not react much to the statement, only sternly looking at Hsi Wu as we approached.

"I'll leave you two to speak." Hsi Wu said before he began walking away. He turned to look at me and I looked at him as he walked away. Our eyes met at that moment and instead of spells, we saw each other and it was like we were looking deep into each other's souls. I reluctantly pulled my eyes away as he did the same. With a sigh I walked closer to Captain Black who was watching Hsi Wu wearily.

When Black was sure he was out of earshot, he began to whisper to me. "So, what did you find out?" He said turning his attention at me.

"I found out what they're going to do with the souls." I whispered back, understanding the need for secrecy. I could feel that this was where things would change. At the end of this conversation, we would either fight against the Wisp Sisters and Hsi Wu or make peace with them.

"Yes, The Bridge of Souls." Captain Black said.

"'Bridge of Souls'? That's such a cool name." I remarked.

"Too bad what they plan to do with it is... questionable." Captain Black said. "So what do you think, Jade, can Hsi Wu be trusted?" Captain Black asked.

I looked at Hsi Wu who was conversing with Shia Ra. I knew that Captain Black already knew what he wanted to do, so I felt like his question was either a test or a trap. Hsi Wu turned his sight back at Captain Black and I. Our eyes met again and we had another moment and in that moment, I felt like everything else did not exist. Only he and I at this very moment and it was in that very moment that I knew what I wanted. It was obvious now that I was acutely aware of the growing uncomfortable feeling in my chest. I was longing... longing to trust him. I wanted him to come to earth and live in peace with the rest of us. But like I said, that's what I _wanted_ but I was not sure if that _should_ happen or was even possible.

Shia Ra called Hsi Wu's attention back to her and he reluctantly broke eye contact with me, returning the world back to me. "I don't know," I answered Captain Black's question. "But I want to protect Earth from any danger."

Captain Black nodded before looking away, "It looks like our time is up."

I looked at him confused and followed his line of sight. There was a Wisp Sister that was flying in from an opening in the ceiling. Captain Black could sense my confusion and sighed before explaining. "That Wisp Sister was sent out after I told them my chi wizard bluff. They now probably know I was bluffing."

I became worried as I realised what that meant. "What do we do?"

"We free the souls." Captain Black said. "I know where the souls are being kept. I can give you the directions and you can go and save them while I distract them."

"I don't think that will work," I interjected. "I'm pretty bad at following directions. You save the souls and I'll cause the distraction." I said. Captain Black was about to protest but I charged at the group of Wisp Sisters and demon before he could officially give me any orders to desist.

When I was close enough I launched myself into the air and kicked Shia Ra in the face, sending her sprawling back. I smiled cockily at the stunned beings around me. I had purposely chosen to attack their leader to cause the most shock effect.

"We reject your plan!" I said at all of them but for some reason avoided eye contact with Hsi Wu who was standing stunned at my side. "You can take your Bridge of Souls and stick it up your..." I had to dodge as one of the Wisp Sisters dropped in on me in retaliation for attacking their leader. I used a bicycle kick to hit the Wisp Sister away.

"Jade, I-I thought that we were going to resolve this peacefully."

"You thought wrong," I said, still not willing to face him. I began running as the Wisp Sisters flew towards me. I needed to keep moving so that they don't overwhelm me, like they had done to Captain Black and I when we entered the building.

I occasionally had to dodge a claw from one of the Wisp Sister's and retorting with a kick or punch of my own. I had suddenly reached a dead end, or so they thought but instead I began jumping up the wall, which were uneven, making natural steps to the top. The Wisp Sisters who had been hot on my heels crashed into the wall after my sudden ascension.

I took out the few that had not crashed into the wall as they flew up to me. I kept jumping higher, step by step, while fending off the Wisp Sisters. I saw Shia Ra racing towards me, her hands turning into claws.

She swiped upwards, using her momentum to make her attack more deadly but I leaned back in time to dodge it. As I leaned back, my leg shot out and she blocked it with her other hand while spinning around aiming to decapitate me with her other claw-like fingers but they raked the marble wall behind me as I was already jumping to the next pedestal to dodge her attack.

She pursued me and her hand came up in a viscious swing but I dodged by jumping to another pedestal again. Her attack came down hard on the pedestal I had been standing on and caused it to crumble into before she continued to pursue me.

"Shia Ra!" I heard Hsi Wu's voice say. Shia Ra stopped her pursuit of me and looked down at Hsi Wu questionably. "Where is Black?" Shiar Ra's eyes went wide as he realised that Black was no longer in the large chamber room.

"The souls," I heard Shia Ra whisper in horror before she flew down.

"You stop Black, I'll deal with Jade." He said looking up at me.

"Do not use your abilities too excessively." Shia Ra reminded him as she stopped by him. He nodded.

The rest of the Wisp Sisters followed Shai Ra, leaving me with Hsi Wu. Blue leathery wings shot from his back before he began flying towards my position. I quickly resumed my frenzied climb. I saw an opening on the wall, that led to the outside. I went through the tunnel and came out at the other end which ended in a large and high cliff.

"JADE!" I heard Hsi Wu's voice shout as he came through the tunnel. When his head popped out, I roundhouse kicked his head, which sent him flying to the side. While he was still getting up onto his knees, I tried to axe kick his head but he caught it. I noticed that his hand had grown grey-ish white claws that dug into my ankle. "I don't want to hurt you Jade but if you force me, I will!" He said looking at me and revealing his changed face. His teeth had grown sharp and yellow, while his lips were black and his red pupils were replaced by evilly glowing red eyes.

I pushed my other foot off the ground and aimed to kick him in the face. Hsi Wu blocked my attack and slid back a little while I landed on my back. I flipped back to my feet in a fighting stance.

"I thought you understood that all I wanted was PEACE!" He shouted as swung his hands and summoned two crescent shaped of winds at me. I rolled to the side, barely dodging the winds that would have definitely pushed me off the cliff.

"You talk about peace and yet you almost pushed me off this cliff?" I said as I charged at him.

"That was self defence, like this!" He said as he blocked my punch and we exchanged a few more attacks.

/

Captain Black could sense the Wisp Sisters hot on his trail. Unlike him, they were flying and not on foot which made them faster. He made a few more turns and looked behind him to see Shia Ra catching up. He cursed under his breath. He slid to a stop when he finally reached the tube with the souls the Wisp Sisters had collected.

Shia Ra and her sisters stopped when they also entered the room. They watched Black wearily. Captain Black looked between them and the containment tube not far from him.

"What is the meaning of this, Black?" Shia Ra asked as she and her sisters floated closer. "I explained to you why we were doing this and I gave you my word that no harm would come to the souls."

"Under normal circumstances, I would fully trust you, Shia Ra." Captain Black said as he also stepped back to get away from the Wisp Sisters who were pressing closer to him. "You seem like an honourable... being but this time I'm afraid I can't trust your word, not when it is dependent on that demon's." Black's back suddenly hit the containment tube and now was cornered.

"I am sad to hear that." Shia Ra genuinely said. "But there is no way you can free the souls. You can't break it with your bare hands."

"I wasn't planning on breaking it with my bare hands." Captain Black said as he held out his palm. There was a luminescent mist that appeared over his palm and when it disappeared, it left behind the white gun he had been using before!

The Wisp Sisters recognised this weapon and were visibly worried. "Please Black," Shia Ra said. "If you do this, you will doom our world."

Black took a deep breath and raised the gun towards the glass. "I'm sorry Shia Ra. I cannot risk my people for the safety of yours."

Black shot at the glass multiple times in three different areas, causing cracks to web out before the glass fell apart and Shia Ra shouted: "NOOOO!" as the souls spilled out and like a tide of water released from a dam, swept Captain Black along with them as they flowed through the Wisp Sisters.

/

The souls streamed out into the corridors as a river made up of many balls of light with wispy tails. They flowed towards the entrance and began exiting with Black swept up in their momentum and powerless to escape it.

"Close the exit!" Shia Ra commanded. Two of the Wisp Sisters began turning a hidden lever and the rocky walls that framed the main entrance began closing up, cutting some of the souls off from their escape. The Wisp Sisters tried collecting the remaining souls but they scattered away from them like a parting school of fish, sensing the intent of their predator. The remaining souls began looking for other avenues of exit, whether it be the smallest crack or a tunnel in the wall leading to a cliff outside.

/

He caught my fist and I blocked his claw swipe. We struggled for a while but then he shouted out and there was a burst of wind that pushed me away. I tumbled back off the cliff and was only able to save myself by grabbing the ledge at the last second. I began pulling myself up and I saw Hsi Wu had fully transformed into his demon form.

He was blue and grey with elongated ears and three spikes coming from his head. His eyes glowed red as his tail swished from side to side in anticipation. His form looked different from the last time I saw him as his body was bulging in muscles. The air around him gained an unhealthy purple aura, as it was warped by the energy emanating from him.

I felt a little sick as I felt the world around me slowly die. It was then that I saw the proof that Hsi Wu was truly killing this world. Its detriment would have been faster if he did not keep his demonic power bottled up and instead let it out like he was doing now. I could see that he was out of it, most likely due to his anger and as such was allowing his demonic energies to flow freely from his body.

Fearing for this world, I tried to stop him by charging at him. I launched into the air for a flying kick. He raised his arms and summoned a swirling wind to catch me in mid air. The wind caused my leg to twist a little and I yelped in pain. My shout seemed to bring him back to his senses as he looked at me again with some intelligence in those red glowing eyes. He looked around himself as his aura was killing his surroundings and warping and corrupting space and matter around him.

Hsi Wu took a calming breath and I'm guessing he must have suppressed more of his demonic energy as his muscles disappeared and left him looking normal in his demon form. The purple aura also died down and hugged more tightly around him like a faint outline.

I was now vertical in mid-air, trapped by the swirling vortex around me. I looked down at Hsi Wu, who still held his hand out to continue to trap me in the vortex.

"Why? Why could you not believe me when I said I wanted to be good?" He said.

"You're a demon! How can I expect you to be good?" I spat out.

"Of course, and you're a human. How can I expect you to be tolerant?" He shot back.

His face then contorted in despair as he looked down below the cliff. I turned my eyes around and I saw why he was so distraught. Captain Black had succeeded in freeing the souls! I looked at him and our eyes met again and I felt great sadness because I could see the sadness in his red eyes. I opened my mouth to say something but there was a sudden stream of souls that came out of the tunnel we had come out of.

The souls swept me up into them, freeing me from the entrapping vortex of demonic air, and flowed into the air only to join the other souls. After a short time we reached the portal back to our world. The portal got brighter and brighter the closer we got until I could see nothing but white light.

/

My eyes slowly fluttered open, dispelling the darkness that had gathered there. I was looking up at a blue sky. I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at the sky as it looked wrong. It seemed a little dull, a little less blue then I was used to. My eyes suddenly went wide when I realised that the sky did not look wrong, on the contrary it looked right. I guess I had been so used to the blue sky in the Wisp realm.

I quickly sat up and looked around. I had been lying in a stretcher where I had activated the sheep talisman which I now realised was still in my hand.

"You're back," I heard a familiar electronic voice say. I looked up and saw an agent carrying a big iPad with Captain Black's face on it.

I smiled at him. "Yes, I see your also back... to wherever that is."

Captain Black smiled on screen. "Everyone in the town who had been in a coma has now woken up. Well done, Agent Chan."

I tilted my head at this. If anything, he saved the souls not me, so he should be getting the credit. I decided to not voice out my opinion as I knew that Black had a reason for everything he did.

"I've already contacted Tohru to come and help us seal the portal to the Wisp realm so that they don't take anymore souls." Captain Black informed me.

I looked up at the sky worryingly. Because I was not in an astral form, I could not see the great , bright portal. "Aren't you worried about the Wisp Sisters? Won't their world die?"

"I don't know." Captain Black said. "All we can do is hope that they will find another way to save their world."

I nodded slowly. I also hoped that both Hsi Wu and the Wisp Sisters would find a way to save themselves. I got up onto my feet. "Being an expert at something was harder than I thought it would be."

Captain Black smiled at this. "I wouldn't worry if I were you. You're going to get the hang of this and then you're going to be a great agent and expert one day."

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Hey people. Thanks for reading!

I know its been a while since I posted a new chapter for this story. I've been really busy and only have had time for a few stories here and on fictionpress so Jade Chan recieved the slack sadly. When things calm down, hopefully I'll be able to deliver a new chapter every month or so. Yes, you're probably thinking, a month is toooooo long but these chapters are almost self contained, so they are roughly full stories in under 15000 words (or at least that's my goal).

Again, thanks for reading and sorry for the awful updating.


	6. Dinner with the Chans

**Chapter 5 Abstract** (Step 1 to being a good person: skip this abstract)

Jade Chan is a young woman who is a skilled fighter. As an Agent of Section 13 and with her ties to the world of magic, her life is far from normal. These are her adventures.

Jade has just taken down a dangerous criminal. Now she should expect a nice relaxing day at home, right? Wrong! For the Chans are meeting up and she has to deal with her mother, father and a strange mystical being that she thought she had defeated.

* * *

 **Dinner With the Chans**

I was coming up fast to the yacht above me. I broke the surface of the water and took off the mouthpiece that assisted my breathing underwater. I could not help but think that this would have been easier if I had the monkey talisman. I could have just thought myself a dolphin and poof, there would be no need for scuba gear. Not that the scuba gear was particularly heavy or anything. Section 13 had developed a lightweight and compact scuba gear for relatively short range swimming.

I looked up at the target before me, a white luxurious yacht with gold trimmings. People would walk by, forcing me to wait and bide my time to get on. When there was no one on the deck directly above me, I whipped out my grappling gun and aimed for the railings before I pressed a button that reeled me up. As I stepped on the rail a man came by, holding an Uzi.

I internally cursed while weighing my options... wait what options, either I dive back into the ocean below or get torn apart by bullets. As the man took aim, and I prepared to jump, someone else reeled their way to the railings beside the armed man and kicked him in the face. The man with the gun went down like a sack of potatoes.

"Geez, you took your sweet time." I said as I jumped onto the deck and checked on the armed man to ensure he was unconscious.

"Perfection can't be rushed." The newcomer said before he peeled back his scuba mask. He had ebony skin, and a shaved head. His brown eyes took the surroundings to make sure no one else was coming. This man was my partner for this mission. Elijah Trees, brother to Jamie Trees, you probably don't remember Jaime but I partnered up with him and Vicky when we were fighting Valmont and his clones.

"Our target should be at the main quarters of the ship," Elijah's baritone of a voice said. "You think you can handle him alone, Jade?"

"Pfft, do I think I can handle a former priest? Of course I can."

"Alright, I'll leave you to it then." Elijah said before turning away.

"Wait, what are you going to be doing?" I asked him in a hushed voice while taking off the small circular tank, fins and breathing mask that were my scuba gear.

"Remember, we need to cripple the ship to make sure that the target does not escape before Section 13 can capture him." Elijah said. "I'm going to cripple the ship and take out any henchmen I cross along the way. You just make sure you apprehend the big boss... quietly."

"Gotcha," I said giving him a thumbs up before we went our separate ways. I could not get how Jamie and Elijah were brothers but were so different. Where Jamie was kind of small and scrawny, Elijah was tall and well built; where Jamie was prone to nervousness and anxiety in missions, Elijah was some kind of super spy. The better I got to know Elijah, the more I was starting to not believe that the two were related and grew up together.

I snuck across the deck to the main quarters. I had to occasionally dive behind some cover as well-armed men patrolling the area passed on by. I finally arrived at the main quarters without further incident. Walking into the ship, I was confronted with a lavish hallway, lined with an expensive carpet and exquisite vases. I moved along, peering through windows until I could see my target. I saw a lone figure sitting alone, with his chair turned away and looking out to the big oval window at the end of the room. I knew instinctively that that was my target.

I slowly opened the door and snuck in trying t be as quiet as a secret agent... which by the way I was. My target had not moved at all. His name was Krystal, well Krystal was more of a nickname actually. His real name is Father Marcus Smith; a former priest who just suddenly burst out into the criminal world by participating in the drug and arms trades and by using his church as a front for human trafficking. Section 13 was alerted to his activities when he was making waves in the international criminal world. So they made it their mission, technically my and Elijah's mission, to stop him before he became a major criminal force too big to stop or contain.

I crept in closer to the man. From where I was, I could see the man's head. His partly silver hair had parted to reveal an ever growing bald spot. I just needed to karate chop this guy in the neck and my part of the mission would be done. When I was close enough, the edge of my hand came down, aiming for the man's neck. I was surprised when my hand was stopped by his blocking forearm.

"Really? That was pathetic." He said before swiveling around in his chair and throwing a punch. I leapt back to dodge his punch as I took the man before me. He wore circular rimmed glasses and had fair skin. The creepiest thing was that he had on the black priest robe complete with the white block on the front part of the collar. Hanging from around his neck, going down to his chest via a black necklace chain was a pink crystal with white text on it that I could not identify.

He smiled at me as he got up.

"Marcus Smith, you are under arrest." I said.

He looked annoyed at my statement. "Why do people still call me that? My name is Krystal!" He said before he rushed in for me. He threw a left jab which I dodged and proceeded to attack me with a combo of jabs and swings. I barely recognised his technique as modern boxing. It was very sloppy, as if he had learned how to use it yesterday.

I blocked a few more of his punches and delivered a kick to his mid-section, which sent him flying back. He knocked over his swiveling cushy chair and crashed into a desk. "Bothersome old body," he said as he used the desk to pull himself to his feet.

Taking the advantage I ran for him with the want to finish this quickly. When I was close to him, he thrust out his palm and pink energy pulsed from it before I was pushed back. I slid a few feet on the floor before coming to a halt.

I got up slowly, feeling like three guys kicked me at the same place at the same time. I looked at the former priest wearily. "How... How did you do that?" I said.

He smirked at me and said, "I prayed real hard."

I gritted my teeth before trying to rush him again. This time, Krystal, as he prefers to be called, reached under the desk he was standing beside and produced a gun. He pointed it at me and I froze as he pulled the trigger. Nothing happened.

"Damn it!" He said, bringing the gun closer to himself to turn the safety off but at that point I had already ran to the nearest cover I could reach, which was an expensive looking, blue and gold trunk. He aimed at the trunk and continued to fire at it.

I guess my mission to apprehend him quietly had just failed. I would be surprised if no one heard Krystal empty his clip at my position. I withdrew my own gun and turned the safety off before waiting for my chance. When the bullets stopped, I got to my knees and aimed at him. I pulled the trigger and he swept his hand to the side, causing a pink line to trace the path of his hand through the air. I was surprised when my bullet was deflected away, as if he swatted it away, and bounced into a bronze dragon statue.

I saw his sinister smile broaden at my shocked expression and he slotted another full clip into his gun before proceeding to empty it at my position again. I got back behind the trunk as it was riddled with bullets. "How come I pray every night but never get special powers," I pouted to myself.

I reached back into my black spy suite with white trimmings and produced another weapon in my arsenal. Yes, I did not bring along the monkey talisman with me on this mission but I did bring a talisman that may be just as good, if not better: the Dragon Talisman.

In any fire fight, the Dragon Talisman always had the upper hand because of its massive fire power. He may be able to deflect bullets with whatever magic he is using but I highly doubted that he could deflect a shot from the Dragon Talisman.

I waited until his gun ran empty again. I took up my position and pointed the talisman's face towards him before the dragon began glowing. A yellow beam of energy shot out and he did the same gesture he did the last time to deflect the bullet but the beam from the dragon talisman was unaffected and hit him in the chest before blasting him through the giant oval window.

I deactivated the talisman when the criminal smashed through the window and fell to the deck before. I could not help but cringe at the reaction. "I may have over done it a little." I said to myself.

Men walked into the office and fired at me as soon as they saw me. Against the heavy fire power, the trunk I was hiding behind was getting shredded and would not provide protection for much longer. I activated the dragon talisman but this time, aimed it at the trunk I was hiding behind. A beam shot out and smashed through the trunk before hitting both the gunmen.

I rushed to the oval window and looked below at Krystal who was lying unconscious amongst broken glass. I leapt off and landed beside him, only to check his pulse. I breathed a sigh of relief when I felt a pulse.

A black helicopter came above us and I knew it was Section 13. I heard henchmen frantically shout that they could not move the yacht and how many of them were either missing or unconscious. At that, I knew that Elijah had done his part.

Without any further reason to worry, I inspected the unconscious criminal, going through his priest garb. I inspected the pink crystal around his neck and reached out for it. I grabbed it and studied the white writings etched into it. It was definitely old text in some ancient language I did not even recognise.

I slipped the pink crystal off the man's neck. He probably collected it as part of his ill-gained goods. He seemed to love collecting ancient artifacts. Most of the artifacts on the yacht would probably be confiscated and returned to their rightful owners and if they didn't have any owners, they would handed over to museums.

/

"Well done Agent Trees and Agent Chan," Captain Black said from a monitor screen held by a man in black attire. "Hopefully, we can fix all the damage that Krystal has done."

Elijah nodded at this. "Captain Black, I hope you don't mind if I take this." I said raising the pink gem attached to a chain.

"As a memento?" Captain Black asked raising an eyebrow.

"Oh no!" I said waving my hands. "It looks old, so I was thinking I'd donate it to the museum that Uncle Jackie worked for."

Captain Black nodded at this. "Well, if that's the case, then I'm sure it's okay if you d that."

"Thank you," I said placing the crystal in my pocket.

"If that is all, you're both dismissed." Captain Black said before the screen went black.

My mobile phone began ringing at that moment. "Hello?" I answered.

"Hello, Jade. Hmm... if I can reach you that must mean that the plane is not close to landing." The voice at the other end said in Mandarin.

"M-mom? Wait what plane?" I said in the same language.

"What do you mean what plane?" My mother asked, struggling to hide her outrage. "Did you forget that we're having our annual family dinner tonight?"

I instantly slapped my forehead as I remembered the important occasion that my parents would force me attend every year.

"What was that?" My mother asked, apparently having heard me slapping my forehead.

"Uhm... nothing mom.Y-Yeah, I'm on my way to the family dinner. It's that I've been on this pane for sooo long." I said.

"Hmpf, don't disappoint us, Jade." Mom said, not at all sounding convinced of my story.

Elijah smiled beside me. "Family dinner, huh?"

I looked at him and shrugged. "Yeah and I forgot all about it. My mom will probably remind me for the rest of my life if I miss it."

"I'm sure she'll understand if you don't attend." Elijah offered.

"No, she won't." I said. "They don't even know what I do. My mom and dad think I'm a door-to-door saleswoman selling beauty products."

Elijah stifled a laugh at this. "Well, then you better get moving if you don't want to disappoint them." He said walking away.

"Yeah... hey wait, how did you know I was talking about a family dinner?" I asked.

"Because I overheard you talking about it," he said before winking at me.

My mouth fell open for a while before I closed it and shaking my head. Sadly, I did not have time o be impressed By Elijah... I had a family dinner to rush to.

/

I had organised a few favours at Section 13. I was now on a fast jet to England where my parents had immigrated to. Because I had nothing to wear, I asked someone to fetch a particular item of clothing from my apartment back in America.

I called Anita at our shared apartment. I was helping the African woman find her way in the outside world. She was a little over 150 years old but looked like she had just entered adulthood.

She answered the phone after a few rings.

"Hello?" She said.

"Anita, it's Jade." I said.

"Oh, Sister Jade!" Anita happily greeted. "Are you coming home?"

"Uhm... no, I have a very important dinner date with my parents so I won't be returning tonight."

"Oh, that's nice." Anita said.

"No its not." I retorted.

"I wish I could meet the rest of your family."

"No, you don't." I said. "Maybe next time, I'll drag you to one of our dinners then you can suffer with me."

"Sounds nice," she said and I could not tell if she was joking or serious.

"Anyways, I'm sending someone I trust to come by the house." I said. "I don't have something to wear so I need you to pack me the dress you gave me last time and the person coming over will deliver it to me when I'm in England."

"WHAT!?" Anita said before, I'm guessing, mumbling a prayer of thanks in her home language. "You're going to wear _a_ dress? You're going to wear _my_ dress?"

"Calm down, Anita, I do wear dresses you know." I defended myself.

"Mmm," Anita answered which was her humble and polite way of saying: 'Yeah right!' Anita took a moment to answer. "Alright, Sister Jade, I will pack the dress for you. Wow, I can't believe you're going to wear the dress I gave you and I'm not even going to get to see it."

"Don't worry, I'll take a lot of selfies." I said.

"Oh good! Uhm... what are selfies?" Anita asked.

I sighed at this. "I'll explain and show it to you later."

/

I quickly changed into the dress when it arrived. I had no where to store my spy things, such as my spy suite and the Dragon Talisman to be content with carrying them in a small duffle bag. However, before I put the crystal away, I took a picture of it and called up an old friend of Uncle Jackie's.

"Hello, you've reached the museum." The man on the other side of the phone said.

"Hello, I'd like to speak to George Peters." I said.

"Speaking. How may I help you?"

"Hello, Mr. Peters. I don't know if you remember me but I'm Jade Chan..."

"Jackie Chan's niece! Of course I remember you!" George happily said. "How have you been?"

"Good. Uhm... I have an item here and I was wondering if you could find a place for it at the museum." I said.

"Oh! Okay. Wait a minute, are you going into the archaeologist business like your la... like Jackie?"

I bit my lip at that. George had just stopped himself from referring to Uncle Jackie as late. I guess I could understand why he would think Uncle Jackie would be dead, he had been missing for a long time but something told me that he was still out there somewhere.

"No," I answered. "It's just something I happened across. I'll send you a picture of it and then you can tell me if its museum worthy."

"Okay, then. I'll contact you when I find out anything about it." George said before we said our goodbyes.

I sent him the picture and put my phone away as I neared the house my parents stayed at. I knocked lightly on the door and waited. The door was opened by my mom, who immediately gasped when she saw me.

"What are you wearing?" She asked.

"Hello, mom." I said, ignoring her question.

"We were suppose to be wearing traditional Chinese garb not... not... what are you wearing?" My mother said again.

My mom was wearing a traditional blue Chinese dress with silver patterns and had her hair tied up with two white chop sticks running through the bun at the back with a pearl necklace around her neck. I, on the other hand, was in a painfully bright orange dress of African style with a jade dragon wrapping around it; my hair was hidden beneath an orange head scarf with jade coloured patterns.

"So, what's cookng mom?" I said, inviting myself in as she was taking too long to.

"Oh you know, _traditional_ Chinese food for a _traditional_ Chinese meal with a _traditional_ Chinese family wearing mostly _traditional_ clothing."

Okay, I was not wearing traditional garb; that does not mean the evening is ruined. I rolled my eyes at her statement.

"Did you just roll your eyes at me, young lady?" She said.

How did she even know!? I'm walking in front of her, so she could not have even seen my eyes. "Uhm... no mom, I'm just taking in the decor. It's really nice." I said in my home language, trying to please her.

Actually, it was pretty nice and spacious. I have become accustomed to small and cramped living spaces. I mean back when I was living with my parents in China, we lived in a small cramped house and then I moved in with Uncle and Uncle Jackie in America in their antique shop which also doubled as their house and when Tohru moved in with us, the small house just became even smaller. The apartment I'm living in now seems to help continue this viscous cycle of small living quarters, especially now that I had a roommate.

"Is that Jade?" My dad called out before he appeared. He was shocked to stillness when he saw me. "What are you wearing?"

"It's something a good friend of mine made for me, okay" I said, starting to feel a little defensive. "It's not a bad looking dress, you know."

"We're not saying it's bad, we're saying its not Chinese." My mom said.

"Well, dad isn't wearing any traditional clothes." I said pointing to him.

He fixed his tie that completed his blue suite. "Suites are different."

"No they're not." I said. "Shouldn't you be in samurai armour or something?"

"Samurai's are Japanese, darling." My mom said, patting me on the back, as if she was consoling me on my incurable stupidity, as she walked on past to my father.

"I-I know, I was making a joke... at our expense. You know, because we're Asian and most of... forget it." They just looked at me. Sigh, this was going to be a looooong night.

My ears suddenly picked up the sound of little footsteps coming in fast. I looked around bracing myself for what was about to come, until this little boy appeared out of a corner and jumped for me. I hugged him tightly as I spun him around, the both of us giggling.

"Well, if it isn't my favourite little brother!" I said.

"I am your only little brother" Kitou frowned at my statement.

"That you are!" I said putting him down.

"I've missed you soo much, Jade!" Kitou said. "Are you going to tell me more stories of adventures?"

I opened my mouth to say yes but my father interjected. "No, Kitou. I do not want Jade telling you those kinds of stories anymore. It puts too much nonsense in your head."

I frowned at this and waited for my parents to turn their backs before I whispered to my little brother, "I'll sneak in a story when they're not around." I winked in a conspiratory manner which the boy returned.

"Uhm... mom, where can I put my bag?" I asked gesturing to the duffle bag I had brought along.

/

A few minutes later, we were sitting around the dinner table.

"So, has Kitou told you that he is top 3 in his class?" Mom asked me.

"Really! Well done, Kitou." I said to the boy who beamed a smile back at me.

"Yes, but if he worked a little harder, he could have been number 1," dad added.

"I don't know dad, number 3 is pretty good." I said.

"Oh, there you go again with that American mentality," my mother said. "That your best is good enough, even if it doesn't get you to the top."

"I'm a firm believer in feeling proud of yourself when you give your all... even if your all doesn't make you number 1." I said. "And that's not something America taught me by the way."

"Really? And where did you learn that?" My mother asked.

"Uhm... heh heh, manga?" I said rubbing the back of my head sheepishly.

"Manga? What is that? A self help book?" My dad asked.

"Something like that." I said, returning to my meal.

"Well, he has to do his best and be number 1." My dad said. "That way Kitou can be anything he wants to be."

Kitou nodded his head vigorously at this. "Yes and I want to be just like sister Jade!" He said pointing his finger at me.

"You want to sell cosmetic products door-to-door?" My mother said, failing to hide the disgust in her voice.

 _Geez, thanks for making me feel good about my fake job, mom._ I thought to myself, annoyed at her eaction.

"No, I want to be mega super cool and have great adventures like Jade and all the stories she tells me about when she was younger." He corrected.

I saw my mother leaning closer to my father, "See, this is why she should not tell him any more of those stories."

My dad shook his head. "Now now, Kitou. Remember, you should become something responsible like a lawyer... like your father, huh?"

"Come on mom, dad. I think it's good that Kitou has someone to emulate that he really is impressed by." I said, puffing out my chest in pride. "Kitou, I remember when I was your age... well, maybe a little older, I wanted to be an archaeologist like my Uncle Jackie."

"No no no, Jade." My father said. "Don't pt such ideas in the boy's head. Being an archaeologist is one of the most irresponsible careers to choose."

I titled my head to the side in confusion. "Are you saying Uncle Jackie was irresponsible?" I asked, now it was my turn to be outraged.

"Well, lets' look at the evidence shall we: he up and disappeared one day and usually they'd be an investigation on his disappearance if he was anything but an archaeologist but apparently, they have to sometimes leave quickly when they have an assignment. So there's little we can do to try and find out what happened to him."

"Yes, not to mention that he just left you with Uncle, who I still am not sure how he's related to us, and that big person without any fore warning to us." My dad added to my mother's point.

"Hey, Uncle is very responsible." I defended Uncle.

"Oh, is that why, like Jackie, we don't know where he is?" My dad said. "And to make matters worse, he just left you with that big person..."

"His name is Tohru," I said.

"Well, whatever his name is, I don't like him nor would I have allowed him to look after my daughter, especially after I found out he is a convict!." He said.

"Ex-convict!" I corrected him angrily.

"But I did not know as you had been lying to me about the whereabouts of Uncle for the 2 years you stayed with that man." He continued.

"Okay, bad things happened but that does not make Uncle Jackie or Uncle irresponsible people." I said. "And I would not call people who ship their daughter away to another county any more responsible."

"You're the one who convinced us to do it!" my dad said. "You told us America had great educational programs to help children."

"And you barely made it through school." My mother said.

"Uncle Jackie always encouraged me to study and do my best at school!" I said. "Don't blame my failures on him!"

Soon the conversation had degraded to a loud argument about whether being a door-to-door saleswoman was more noble then being an archaeologist; Uncle's place in the Chan family tree and whether calling my parents 'traitorous siblings' was appropriate talk around the family dinner table.

"Sister... mom... dad, please let's stop fighting," Kitou said.

"Quiet Kitou!" We all said before continuing our argument.

Minutes passed with us fiercely arguing until things naturally calmed down. I ended up looking down at my plate and prodding the different food with my chopsticks. I was reluctant to look up, just in case I had to look at either of my parents in the eye. My neck eventually cramped up and demanded that I look up from my plate. I looked towards the only face in the room I could stand at looking at right now, Kitou.

However, Kitou was not in his seat. "Where's Kitou?" I instinctively asked, forgetting I was mad at my parents. They looked around too, also having realised that they had misplaced the last born.

"I'll get him," I quickly said before I left. I breathed a sigh of relief to be out of that environment. The tension was so thick, it was suffocating. It's probably why Kitou left. I could understand and usually I would tolerate their comments about me but something in me just snaps whenever they bad mouth Uncle Jackie.

I sighed as I climbed the stairs of the unfamiliar house. Kitou had come up here to put my duffle bag somewhere safe earlier. "Kitou! Kitou!" I called out. It was sad that Kitou did not know Uncle Jackie, then he may have understood why I defended him so fiercely. Kitou was fairly young when Uncle Jackie disappeared and remembers nothing of his few visits.

"Oh no!" I heard him say.

I went to the room where the noise came from and I found Kitou on the floor. The contents of my bag had spilled out to the floor.

Kitou looked up at me with sad eyes, "I'm sorry, Jade." He said as he tried to pack the contents up. "I didn't mean to..."

"It's okay. It's okay." I assure him, putting my arm over him. "Kitou, I'm sorry that we fought in front of you."

"I don't understand why you and mom and dad can't get along." Kitou said. "Is it my fault?"

"What? Of course not." I said. "Why would you think that?"

"They always congratulate me and say good things about me but when your around, they never do the same for you." Kitou said. "It is my fault..."

"No no, its not." I said. "We're all proud of you, Kitou. And what you do has little bearing on me and mom and dad's relationship. People who love each other just... fight sometimes." I said sitting beside him on the floor

Kitou nodded before he conitued to pack my things. "What's this?" He asked raising the Dragon Talismen.

My eyes went wide with shock before I snatched the talisman away from him. "Uhm... sorry, thats something important for... uhm... my door-to-door saleswoman job." I lied.

"Oh!" He said, his innocent mind totally buying my story. "And this?" He said raising my black spy suite with the white outline. "Oh, that's what I wear when I... do my sdoor-to-door saleswoman thing."

"Wow! It looks so cool! Can I try it on?"

"Uhm... I guess you can," I said shrugging my shoulders and doubting that it would fit the little boy. To my surprise, he wrapped the long sleeves around his neck and ran around the room with my spy suite as his makeshift cape. I could not help but giggle at his creativeness as he played whatever game his young mind had made up.

I looked around for where I could safely put the Dragon Talisman. I was thankful that I handed my gun over to someone to return to Section 13 but I could not return the Dragon Talisman because I kind of don't have permission to use it. So I would have to sneak it back into the Section 13 vault. Funny, the Dragon Talisman was more dangerous than any gun Section 13 could give me.

I decided the safest place it would be in would be on my person, however, my dress had no pockets. _This is why I prefer simple jeans,_ I thought to myself. II decided to place the talisman in my head scarf.

My phone began ringing on the floor and I answered it. "Hello?"

"Ah, Jade it's me." The voice at the other end said.

"Mr. Peters?"

"What's this 'Mr.' Business? Call me George." George said. "Anyways, I'm calling because I've found some news on your artefact."

"Mmm?" I said, half interested as I watched Kitou run around the room with his cape, which was my spy uniform, fluttering behind him.

"It seemed to have been used in a ritual," George continued, "where they would sacrifice the body of someone they thought worthy."

"Sacrifce?" I said, a little worried.

"Yes, the body of the subject would be sacrificed in the ritual and his or her soul would be sealed away in the crystal you found. If their soul was good, the crystal would turn green but if their soul was evil... it would turn pink."

My eyes widened with worry at this as I began frantically searching my bag for the crystal. I could not find it and scanned the room with my eyes, trying to ignore my little brother who was jumping all over the place.

"It has quite an interesting name," George said. I suddenly saw a pink object fall out of the pocket of my spy suite and land at Kitou's feet. My brother tilted his head in wonder as he quickly reached for it. "It's called a Renigul, or in English, 'a life preserving crystal'."

"Kitou, don't!" I shouted but it was too late, my brother had already picked up the pink crystal with the white ancient writing. I got up and approached him slowly. "Kitou, are... are you okay?"

"Yes," Kitou said, looking at me with a confused look on his face. "But please, call me Krystal." Kitou said as his look of confusion turned into a sinister sneer.

/

"Kitou, give me the crystal." I said to him with the most commanding tone I could muster.

"I told you," Kitou said as his hand began glowing with pink energy, "call me Krystal!" He thrust his palm out and I barely jumped out of the way as a pulse of pink energy blasted past me.

I recovered quickly and charged for him. I reached for the Renigul with my hand but Kitou's blocked me with his little forearm and held the crystal away with his other hand. I made a few more lunges at it and he kept blocking my efforts but I eventually grabbed both of his arms.

"Stupid weak body," Kitou said before making a quick nod of the head which sent a pulse of energy that pushed me back and away from him. "But it seems to have a lot of mystical potential." Kitou said looking at his hand as it opened and closed. "It must be the innocence of the child." He said to himself.

"Krystal..." I said between gritted teeth as I got to my feet. "Get out of his body!"

"You finally called me by my correct name." Krystal said. "And no, I will not leave this body yet," he said as a pink aura surrounded him and he began to hover above the ground. "It seems so powerful. In fact, I want to test my powers and I have the perfect guinea pigs." He said looking out of the room to where I assumed my mother and father were somewhere downstairs.

"No," I said, horrified as he flew out of the room.

I chased after him. I could see his cape fluttering behind him as he flew downstairs.

"Oh mom! Oh dad!" He shouted as he reached the dining room.

"K-Kitou?" My mom exclaimed in surprise as she saw her son levitating in.

Kitou raised his arm and pointed his palm, pulsing with pink energy, at her.

I tackled him out of the way just as the energy pulse went off and it missed her by a hair's breath.

"You are troublesome!" Krystal angrily said as he released another pulse at me that pushed me away.

I tumbled along the ground before crashing into my parents as if they were bowling pins and I the ball. "Mom? Dad? Are you two okay?" I said as I got to my feet, making sure not to take my eyes off of Krystal.

"What is going on?" My father said as he helped mom to her feet.

"I'll explain later!" I said before charging at Krystal.

Krystal thrust his hand out and sent a pulse of energy that pushed me back. My feet slid on the tile floor as I forced myself to a halt before resuming my charge. He kept throwing more energy pulses at me but they were having increasingly less effect. I smiled at this as I was once again pushed back but now the distance was much smaller.

"You're running out of energy, aren't you?" I said as I shrugged off another energy pulse.

I could see Krystal grit his teeth angrily. He knew that he had been too reckless with the usage of his newfound power and it was now coming back to bite him... I was coming back to bite him.

"Stop this now!" My mother's voice rang out, freezing me in place. "What is going on?"

"Mom, I'll explain later." I said looking back at her.

"No, you'll explain now. Both of you!" My father said sternly.

"Big sister is trying to hurt me!" Krystal said, using Kitou's childish voice to sound small and scared.

I gritted my teeth while thinking of vile curses for the body snatcher but alas could not say to my brother in front of my parents. "That is not Kitou." I said pointing at Krystal. "He's being possessed by that pink thing in his hand." I said gesturing to the pink crystal in his hands.

"Where did he get that crystal, Jade?" My mother asked.

I was partly thankful that she believed me over the vile body snatcher and also angered at her accusatory tone. Okay, admittedly, this whole situation was my fault but still...

"Look, mom, let me help Kitou first before we start pointing fingers." I said as I approached Krystal.

Krystal lashed out and sent out a C-shaped pink wave upwards. I watched as the wave hit the chandelier above me and I had to dive to the side to avoid it falling on top of me.

"I need insurance," I heard Krystal say before he ran to my mother and father.

My mother stood in front of him defiantly. "Kitou Chan, I demand you stop doing magic things this instant!" She said before he punched her in the face with a pink glowing fist, knocking her out cold. My father rushed to her defensively but was treated to an energy pulse at point blank which pushed him away into the wall.

"Amazing," Krystal said as he grabbed my unconscious mother by the collar. "Even the recovery time for my powers is better!"

I walked over the ruined chandelier wielding two bread buttering knives. I threw one which landed close to Krystal's feet. "You better let her go," I said threateningly.

Krystal smiled at me as if he had no worries in the world. "Come now, Jade. What is your bluff exactly? That you would hurt your brother to get at me or..." He swung my mother's body around in front of him to use her as a shield, "your mother? Either way, I highly doubt you would harm any of them. I have the advantage here."

"You don't know what I'm capable of," I said, brandishing the other bread knife.

There was a flash of worry on his face before he calmed down into a smile again. "Maybe so but I warn you, follow me and your mother and brother die." He said before his eyes began glowing pink and then there was a bright, blinding pink light

I raised my hands to shield my eyes from the horrible pink light and when it was gone, so were my mother and Krystal, along with Kitou's body. I looked out and saw the door leading to the night outside, swinging on its hinges...

/

"Jade, where are you going?" My father asked as I came back downstairs, having changed my dress for a pair of old pants I had left here. I was in such a hurry that I forgot to remove the yellow headscarf, still on my head.

"I'm going after them." I said. "He can't get too far with mom without depleting too much of his pink energy thing. So I'm going to get them."

"But you heard what Kitou said..."

"That was not Kitou!" I snapped.

"Well whatever that thing was, it said it would hurt Kitou and your mother if it was followed." My father said in an equally angry tone.

"I can do this, dad." I said, trying to calm the situation down. "I've done things like this many times before and I always win." I walked closer to the open door before looking back at my worried father. "Please... have faith in me." I said before running out.

/

I ran out to the pavement of the neighbourhood and looked around. Admittedly, I was very... very bad at tracking, so that was not helping my nerves. I looked down and saw a white pristine pearl. I picked it up and inspected it and realised that it was from the necklace of pearls that mom wore.

"She's leaving behind a trail!" I said to myself. I must admit, my mom was one smart lady... even if she got on my nerves. I ran down the street where I came across even more pearls.

Ahead of me, Krystal pulled my mother by the collar of her dress along the pavement with most of her lower body scraping the tar. He stopped when he heard a _tap tap_ sound. He looked back and saw that the woman he was dragging behind him was still unconscious. He shrugged before looking forward and walking on. It was not too long before he heard the _tap tap_ noise again.

He quickly looked back and saw a white pearl bouncing , _tap tap_ , on the pavement before rolling away. Krystal's eyes widened as he realised what was happening. He lifted Kitou's mother to his angry face. "You...!" He snarled at the terrified woman who was no longer playing unconscious.

"Mom!" I said as I ran to them. I had finally caught up.

"Jade!" My mom called out to me.

"Does no one take threats seriously in this century?" He shouted before the pink aura returned around his body again. He flew up with mom and landed on the roof of the nearest house.

I jumped over the fence and began scaling the walls of the house in an effort to get to the roof. Balcony by balcony, level by level, I strained myself to get up. I finally reached it and climbed on the roof. I found Krystal sitting on a brick chimney, looking at me. His cape fluttered in the wind and coupled with the moon behind him, it made him look even more evil in my little brother's body.

My mom was lying at his side, looking fearfully at me and him.

"I guess you really are throwing the life of your family away." Krystal said nonchalantly.

"Take my body," I said, which surprised him. "Take my body and leave my mother and brother out of this."

"Jade, No. Don't..." My mom began.

"Hush!" Krystal angrily said as he snapped his fingers. A small pink pulse exploded near my mom's face, knocking her out again. Krystal jumped off the brick chimney and looked down on me on from his raised position on the slanted roof. "Take your body? Come now, you know that won't work."

"What? Why?" I said.

"You're immune to the crystal's possession powers." Krystal said. He saw my confused look. "Weren't you the one who removed the crystal off the good priest's body? Why don't you think I didn't posses you then?"

I had never even thought about that. I was about to ask when he continued.

"I'll explain it to you." He said. "In fact, the explanation includes why I'm so powerful in your brother's body. You see, my soul was bound to this crystal." Krystal said, raising the pink crystal up to inspect it in the starlight. "The crystal allows me to live forever, through other peoples' bodies, but there is a catch. When I was bound to the crystal, my soul was classified as evil, although I don't really consider myself truly evil but then again, who does?"

Man, this guy liked rambling.

"Anyways, since my soul is evil, I can only posses good people and the more good they are, the stronger my powers are."

"That's why you possessed the priest!" I said.

"Yes. But, even good adults have their flaws. They've lived longer, failed and have been disappointed many times, so even a good adult's view of the world and of themselves is tainted but a child is different. Most children still have their innocents and naivety intact, this makes them more good, hence my increase in power in your brother."

"That still doesn't explain why you can't just take _my_ body and leave my mother and brother alone!" I snapped angrily at him.

He smiled at my outburst. "Oh, but it does, Jade."

I thought over what he said for a moment and then it hit me. "But... but I'm not evil."

"Like I said, who considers themselves truly evil." He smiled at my distress. "Don't worry, Jade, you are good... or at least more good than you are evil. Which only leaves one option: your destiny is one of evil, so much so that it ripples across time to affect even your present."

"Liar! That's all lies!" I said. He had to be lying! This guy is basically saying that I'll be evil in the future which is... impossible!

"You can deny it all you want," Krystal said, "but it does not make it any less true. Now, I'll leave now with your mother. If I see you following us again, I _will_ kill her."

"You're not going anywhere, I'm stopping you here." I said, defiantly.

He laughed at this. "You could not stop me even if you wanted to. While we were talking, I was secretly recovering my energy. I'm at full power now, while you're tired from the climb. I could defeat you even without a hostage."

It was my turn to smile now as I reached for my headscarf. "I knew you were recovering your energy. I let you do it."

Krystal looked surprised, which was a look that pleased me greatly. "But... why..."

"So, I could do _this_!" I said as I produced the Dragon Talisman for my headscarf. I quickly activated it and a beam of energy blasted out towards him.

Krystal gathered his energy and created a pink swirling shield in front of him. The swirling shield only lasted for a moment before it was blasted away into pink threads. I deactivated the destructive beam of the Dragon Talisman only to see Krystal lying face down on the roof, smoke coming from his lightly bruised body.

"You... You used that weapon? On your own... brother?" Krystal said as I approached him.

"Yes." I said as I walked closer to him as he got to his knees. "I knew that if I used it quickly enough, your natural instinct would be to protect yourself even if your body was expendable. That's why I let you recover all your energy, so you could deplete all of it, protecting my brother's body from the Dragon Talisman. With no energy and while you have my brother's underdeveloped body, you stand no chance against me."

"Heh, well played but I also have a trick up my sleeve." He said as he took the crystal and threw it.

I was surprised by this move and could only watch as the crystal skidded past me and land on my mother's cheek. Her eyes shot open and the same sinister smile that was on Kitou's face was now on hers.

"No!" I said running towards her.

She grabbed the crystal and flipped over my head before heading for the now defenceless Kitou. She picked him up and lifted him over her head with one hand, which brought me to a standstill. Her arm was glowing faintly with pink energy as she lifted the body higher.

"You lose, Jade." Krystal said through my mother's mouth before throwing Kitou over the roof. I ran and dove for him off the roof for him. I was able to grab on his cape and use it to pull him to me in mid-air. I did a summersault and landed on my feet before rolling on the ground, making sure that Kitou was safe.

The nerves on my legs and back were on fire because of the landing from the high roof of the house. I looked below me and was relieved to see that Kitou was okay... roughly okay. I forced myself up on my still stinging feet. Krystal still had one more hostage that I needed to save: my mother.

/

Krystal jumped roof from roof in an effort to get as far away from the place as possible. She looked back and was surprised to see me hot on his trail... her trail... its trail.

"Krystal!" I shouted.

"How are you not dead!" Krystal shouted angrily at me. "I saw you jump off the roof!"

"I won't die until you let my mother go!" I said as I used my anger to catch up to her. My body was still suffering from the fall but it was nothing compared to my anger and determination.

When i was close enough, my leg shot out and I kicked her down. She quickly got up.

"How can you use such excessive force against your own..."

I did not give her a chance to complete her statement as I kicked her in the face. "My mom always said a little pain now would be good for the future." I said as I laid a few more punches onto the body snatcher. "I'm going to free her from you, no matter what. Even if I have to beat her to a pulp to do it!"

Krystal charged up a pink pulse and threw it at me but I swivelled around to avoid it and used my momentum to throw a spinning back kick at her side. She was knocked back onto her butt. I was on her in an instant, searching her body for the crystal while throwing in a few punches.

She released a pink pulse of energy to push me away but it was much weaker then when she was using the pastor's and my brother's body so I was able to stay on. I finally found the crystal on her person and she tried to hold onto it.

"Nooooo!" She said as we struggled for it.

"Krystal, your time... is up!" I said as I elbowed her in the face which allowed me to pull the crystal from her grasp.

I was breathing heavily as I inspected the pink crystal in my hands. "Mom?" I said looking down at the bruised woman who was slowly sitting up.

"Jade, where am I and... and why is my body so sore?"

I hugged her... which was not a good idea for either of us as it only served to worsen whatever injuries we had both sustained.

/

My mother and I were lying on two stretchers surrounded by medical personnel. Kitou only had minor injuries while my mom's and my injuries were slightly more severe.

"Jade!" Someone said, waving at me.

I saw a man with round glasses and a brown suite approaching me. He had a wide smile on his friend as if he was an old friend.

"George, thanks for coming at such short notice." I said to the fair skinned man who slightly balding.

"No problem or as the new kids say,' No prob man'!" George said, trying to awkwardly look cool.

"Sure," I said. before handing him over a bundle made of my spy suite. "I need you to safe guard this. All the rumours about it are true."

"Amazing!" Georde said looking at my bundled up spy suite. "And the crystal is in here?" He said as he unwrapped it like a little child on Christmas morning.

"Yeah, but be careful not to..." As I warned him, the crystal fell out and rolled on the ground. "No...!" I shouted as he bent down to pick it up."

I waited to see Krystal manifest again in poor George as I balled my fists in preparation.

"Hmmm... I don't know what you were worried about." George said as he inspected the crystal. He placed it back into the spy suite and wrapped it up again. "I'll see if I can find a safe place for it. We actually have a room where we placed your Uncle's more... dangerous finds. I'll add this to it." George said before he waved goodbye in his goofy way which for me was more confirmation that he was not possessed by Krystal.

Kitou and dad came by my mom's and my stretcher. "Hey, Jade!" Kitou said.

"Hey, big guy!" I said, weakly jabbing him in the shoulder. "I am sorry I got you into so much trouble."

"Are you kidding? The whole evening was fun... even though I don't remember most of it!" Kitou said. "We should do it again next year!"

"NO!" Both my parents said in horrified unison.

"This is why I said Jackie was a bad influence on you Jade!" My father said.

"Yes, we should have brought you home as soon as..." My mom added.

"Uncle Jackie is not to blame, okay!" I retorted "I'm the one who..."

It continued like this as they wheeled my mom and I into the ambulance and my father and Kitou followed behind. We argued the whole way to the hospital but hey, what can I say, that was the normal thing that happened when you have dinner with the Chans.


End file.
